


Week two of Nile's new life

by gelledee



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Anxiety, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Far to much detail, Food, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nile Freeman-centric, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Road Trips, Team Bonding, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 127,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25999105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gelledee/pseuds/gelledee
Summary: What happens in the weeks after they leave Copley.It's only Nile's second week as an Immortal.Andy's first weeks as a mortal.Joe and Nicky are just trying to get by.Everyone is a mess.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 70
Kudos: 132





	1. Day one

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom has inspired me to write my first fic in years. I have no idea if this is any good.  
> Shout out to kibosama, who I have told I was making one thing from the story Aftermath head cannon.  
> There are a few book references.  
> I have not read the comics.  
> Sorry, if I get anything wrong in regard to religion, places and attitudes.

They leave Booker by the Thames.  
It sucks, for each of them in their own way. Andy has lost another member of her family, one she may never see again. Nile as she fears that she may become like Booker. Joe and Nicky have a mess of what if's and what did we not see, what should we do differently.  
No one speaks as the drive to Copley’s, all in their own thoughts.  
No one talks as they look at the wall.  
Finally after they have looked there fill.  
Andy seems to change, time starts again.  
“Let’s get to work.” says Andy, turning from the wall to Copley.  
They make their demands, Copley counters, things are worked out and others left for a later date.  
“It will take time to clean everything away, erase you, hide you” Copley explains, “you should lay low for a bit”  
“How long is a bit?” Andy snaps back at him, in no mood to be told what to do, she can feel Nicky hovering already. “I will contact you in a week.”  
Nile hears Nicky take a breath to speak, as she turns to him she sees Joe signal with a twitch of his hand. They all go back to staring at Copley.  
“I will update you with what I have managed in a week.” Copley breaks first “and weekly after that, if nothing comes up. I look forward to your call.”  
Andy nods, done with the negotiation. She leads them from the room. Nicky then Nile, Joe bringing up the rear.

“We need longer than a week, Boss. We need to heal”  
“Just because I am mortal now, does not mean I am weaker than you, Joe” They have made it to the car before speaking.  
“I did not say, You Boss, I said We.” Joe snaps back, fast to anger as he has been since the lab.  
“I need time, Boss. Booker, he was my brother and hated my love and I so much, he gave us up to be imprisoned, used as lab mice.” Nicky pleads, his argument from the pub surfacing again, the betrayal he can not get passed.  
“You have 100 years, Nicky. I gave you 100 years.” Andy replies, almost soft.  
“Nile...” Joe starts.  
“You don’t speak for me Joe. But if this is a vote, then can I vote for longer than a week, say” Nicky holds four fingers out to his side, away from Andy’s eye-line “a month or so, I was due leave when all this went down.”  
“Get in the car” is all Andy says. None of them move. “What now?”  
“Nile can drive”  
“Everyone can drive except you, Nicky”  
“Really, you can’t drive?” Nile looks at him in shock.  
“Joe’s not much better.” Andy says with glee, they are giving her shit she is going to give it back.  
“It’s more that other people should not be on the road when I do” replies Joe.  
“Or lampposts or trees or” Nicky teases  
“One time, that was one time” Joe defends himself.  
“Many times” Nicky’s tone is fond and soft.  
Nile takes one look at them and climbs into the driver's seat. “Where to Boss?” Nile asks after she is buckled in.  
“She is learning” Joe smiles at Nicky in Italian, climbing in the back seat. Nicky climbs in the other side. Finally Andy gets in the front. 

At a first service station on the motorway as the head away from Copley’s, back toward London, Nicky goes to get food from the Marks and Spencer, Andy coffee from the Costa, Nile gets a family bucket of chicken with sides from the KFC, wanting something from home with a ache, something familiar in the strange world she is now in, in country with the same language but jarring different from home. And Joe, he comes back with two holdalls of ‘Useful Things’.  
They eat at one of the picnic benches by the car park.  
“We will feed you in beautiful places too” Joe is looking at Nile, gesturing with his second bit of chicken. “feed your soul as well as your belly”  
Andy scoffs at the sentiment.  
“Reminds me of camp” Replies Nile, “eating outside the mess by the motor pool.”  
The other chuckle, they have all seen the layout of army camps over the years and the odd way things that end up next to each other as it makes logistical sense but not aesthetic sense.  
Nicky shows Joe something on his phone, bought at some point between the lab and the pub, Joe nods his approval. Nicky takes the phone back and sends off a few messages, looking across the table to Andy and Nile when he has finished “I have contacts lined up; a boat crossing, money and new id’s.”  
“Places to stay?” Andy asks  
“No. Not on this route anyway and none that Booker did not know of in Europe.”  
"Camping?" Andy does not sound eager.  
"Think so Boss" Nicky waves his hands at the shopping.  
“Airb’n’b?” The other three look blankly at Nile. “you know the website where you book to stay in a house or a flat someone lives in.” More blank looks, “like a hotel but not.” Nile reaches for Nicky’s phone, with a nod from Andy he hands it over. Nile finds the web site and shows them some place in one of the towns she saw and the motorway but had never heard of before. Nicky gets the concept first. “Yes, this is good, but for here.” taking the phone back he changes to a different town in the location bar and setting a date. Andy and Joe use the distraction to take the last two pieces of chicken.

Food eaten and rubbish binned, they stand at the car, out of one holdall Joe pulls out two rucksacks, in one he puts the drinks, fruit and snacks Nicky brought, the other goes the tins, bread and cheese. With a quick look around Joe opens the boot, a third rucksack comes out the holdall and the bag of guns goes in, along with all the other odds and sods they have placed in the boot. The second holdall joins the first as does the tin rucksack. Nicky puts the drinks on the floor between him and Joe on the backseat, Joe keeps the third one at his feet. Nile goes to ask what is in the rucksack but Andy catches her eye and shakes her head. Nile climbs into the driver's seat, “Where am I Heading?”  
“Eastbourne”  
“And that is?”  
“South-South-East”  
“Helpful, Joe”  
“M3, to M25, to A22 until you reach the sea”  
“Thank you Nicky”  
“You’re welcome” Nicky mumbles in Italian.

It’s late in the afternoon when they get to Eastbourn, the M25 had been solid and Joe had mumbled about it all being Crawley’s fault. Nicky has a smile at that and a low conversation in Italian had become Nile's background noise. Andy fast asleep with a travel pillow and blanket produced from Joe's rucksack. She seemed to sleep better at the sound.  
They leave the car in a supermarket car park and head to the marina next door. Andy and Nile wait with the bags as Nicky and Joe walk to a boat, Joe staying back as Nicky does the talking.  
“How do Nicky and Joe know these people?” Asks Nile, thinking back to the drugs plane and to her strong belief that most of the cars have been stolen.  
“Nicky and Joe,” Andy starts then stops unsure of how to explain the Nicky and Joe are Nicky and Joe, 800 years of understanding, things they do not speak of, “they do good, always, even when we are not together, even when it is not legal.” with a huff of air “Mostly when it’s not legal.”  
“Well that clears up precisely nothing”  
“People smugglers, underground railroads, refugees, runaways, helping the persecuted get away.”  
“You don’t approved”  
“It’s their time off. I don’t have to recuse them as much, not since.” She stops, takes a breath “They are not late to meet-up so often anymore, never miss them altogether”  
Nile can hear the press of years, of so many stories and experiences that she will never be able to understand, even if she hears the tales, she did not live them. She understands Booker a little more, together but apart.  
“You are like them” Andy says suddenly  
“Kind, doing the right thing?”  
“No, happy not burnt though and used up”  
“Andy”  
“They are coming back.”  
Nicky gives both of them a look at the tension in the air. “We can go just after high tide, back here in four hours”  
Andy checks her watch. “We stay together.” shooting Joe and Nicky a look, but Nicky seemed to be relieved.  
“Beach?” says Joe, picking up a rucksack and holdall. Nile and Nicky get the other two, Nile gets the other holdall before Andy, no-one else goes for her axe. They head to the beach.

There is one free bench not far from the pier that Andy claims, dumping the bags around her, Joe and Nicky go for coffee. Andy goes into the snack bag taking out some popcorn.  
Nile looks at her and then to Joe and Nicky, who are not going into the little cafe but talking to someone “I guess we just hurry up and wait”  
“Yup”  
“Nothing changes"  
Nicky and Joe walk past them with two buckets each, Nicky waves as they head onto the beach.  
“I have no idea” Andy heads off Nile’s question. “Go find out what the boys are up to. I am staying put. You have younger legs”  
Nile shakes her head and goes to join the ‘boys’, who are putting things in the buckets. Joe looks up “Nile, come join us!” he does not stop what he is doing, Nicky does not even look up.  
“Doing what?”  
“At the cafe you can trade a bucket full of rubbish from the beach for coffee.” Joe sounds like this is the greatest thing ever. “Save the planet, get free coffee”  
“It does not sound free to me, sounds like working for your supper.”  
Nicky mutters something in Italian, Joe throws sand at him.  
Suddenly Nile gets what’s going on, they are having a race to see fill the buckets first. Nile can’t stop the laugh that escapes her lips. “Andy is right, you two are boys.”  
“You don’t want to play?” Nicky stops and looks at her. Joe stills too.  
Nile gets the impression this is now a different conversation, she wonders if Booker would have joined in or sat drinking with Andy. She looks to Andy still sat on the bench, watching them. Andy toasts them with a bottle of water and Nile turns back, looking at the families on the beach as she does. Mum’s watching their children playing in the sand and surf. Nile realizes the amount of time that has passed since Nicky asked his question. “Okay, but we all start with the same amount.” Nicky and Joe both grin and empty everything into one bucket. Joe hands her an empty bucket.  
“One, two, three, go” Nicky counts as soon as Nile has her hand on the bucket. Nile’s bucket fills steadily but Joe and Nicky are racing around, until Joe gets too close to the surf and is hit by a wave. Nicky laughs at the noise he makes and calls something at him in a mix of Italian and Arabic. Nile thinks it might have something to do with a wet cat. Joe prowls toward Nicky who keeps laughing, shaking his head and saying no, but not really trying to get away. Joe tackles him to the ground and kisses him, Nicky pushes him back up.  
“Nile” Joe calls once he is standing beckoning her over. When she joins them Nicky swaps her bucket for two full ones. “We will join you in a bit”  
“If you want” Joe adds.  
“I’ll stay, it’s kind of fun.”  
“Okay, together?” Nile and Nicky nod, “this way” Joe leads them up the beach away from the pier.  
Nile does not know if it makes her sad or happy that they fill all four buckets so quickly, it’s taken about an hour. When she says out loud on the way back to the cafe Joe says it is okay to feel both. Happy that they have cleaned a small part of the beach, sad that if needed doing. Nicky says that you have to take the good and the bad, together, revel in the good except the bad, change what you can.  
Nile thinks on that philosophy as she walks back to Andy with two coffees.  
“Have fun?”  
“Yes”  
Andy pushes a punnet of peaches at Nile, it’s half empty. “Nicky got peaches, eat one quick, I will kill Joe if I have to hear the poem again.”  
Nile is still eating her peach when Joe and Nicky join them.  
“Andy says there is a poem about peaches.”  
Nicky ducks his head and Joe takes a peach with a grin.  
“I said I would kill Joe if I heard it again. And it’s not about peaches, it’s about blow jobs.”  
“Oh” Nile is shocked, that does not sound like the poems she learnt at school. “then where do the peaches come into it?”  
“Then there is the peach, It’s white flesh, fuzzy against my lips, fixed to a stone core, is so juicy and sweet, second only only to the taste of you, when I worship between your legs” Nicky quotes not looking up and bright red. “It's from ‘The Fruit Bowl’ Yusuf wrote it, about me a very long time ago.”  
“Still the most erotic thing i have ever heard in Persian” Andy points out “and still band everywhere.”  
“It crops in the odd academic text now and then” Joe defends his work, “Band is not forgotten, it is in some libraries, heavily restricted.”  
“You were a published poet” Nile looks at Joe.  
“On and off over the years,” Nicky says with pride, “this was before we met Andy, the first time in Baghdad. Joe had many poems published then and not all about me or so”  
“Pornographic” Andy suggests as he looks for a word in English. “Blatant”  
“Romantic?” Joe adds  
“The poem is not romantic, it is sexual.” Nicky tells him, the red is fading from his face.  
“It is how we found them.” Andy moves the conversation on.  
“How did it help you find them?”  
“We heard it in Samarkand and then we heard ‘The Amazons’, ‘The Fighters’, ‘Tales of battle’ ‘Ambush’ and ‘Axe and bow’. We knew that this was the man we were dreaming of. We had a name and a location. We just had to get there before they moved on again.”  
“‘The Amazons’, Axe and Bow’?”  
“Tales of the women of my dreams. They were often my muses and I wrote a great many pieces to them.” Joe explains.  
“It was strange to hear of the battles I had been in, by someone who was not there and I did not know.”  
“Is that all in a library somewhere?” Nile asks curious to read Joe’s works.  
“Yes, a few, there is definitely a collection of my works from then in Tehran, I could recite one or two now for you but it will be in Persian, give me sometime to write translations.”  
“Published anything recently?”  
“The 1950’s”  
“Where?” Asks Andy, this is news to her.  
“Tehran”  
“Oh, I thought you stopped writing.”  
As Joe laughs, Nicky states “You don’t stop when you have a gift, it ebbs and flows but Joe always composes. You made it clear you did not want to hear any more, so it became only between us.” It’s soft and factual no heat or anger in the words. To Nile this is worse than a rebuke, they have had time to get used to this state.  
“You like my drawings more anyway Boss, more with the visual then the written word, you and the world at the moment.” he sounds happy like it’s not an issue, as he explains. “It’s easier to make quick anonymous money with a drawing, poems not so much these days. It’s all good.”  
“Was it well received?” Andy asks, wanting to be a good friend.  
“Yes, mostly.”  
“It’s now we know there are old works in libraries in Tehran. A reviewer compared them. The battle pieces and the erotic and that fact the same man wrote both types of work.” Nicky adds, then with a smirk “Also questions if a man wrote them.”  
“The definition of masculinity has changed over the years” Joe counters.  
“I remember a bar fight because you were sewing up holes in Nicky’s shirt.” Andy puts her two pence in.  
“It was Quyhn’s tunic.”  
“I think my point stands.”  
“The light was better.”  
“My point stands and is aided my his friend”  
“Nicky tell Andy and Nile I am a man.”  
“I think that Andy and Nile would like you to tell them why you think to be called a woman is less.”  
“It is not less.” Joe is indigent, then looking at Nile and Andy, “It could never be less, to be a man is to be one who can not give and create life only take it. Man who’s creations can only imitate what a woman can do by instinct alone and take years of practice to get to that point. Women who‘s beauty and grace are in everything they do, always. Whose very presence takes the roughness off the world. Woman who can do everything a man does only better and while doing something. I protest as I am not worthy of such a title.”  
“He is good.” Nile grins at Andy. “Had me swooning a little”  
Andy shakes her head “You do know that the only person that stuff works on in Nicky”  
“I am the only one it should be working on.” Nicky says at the same time Joe’s “He is the only one I try it on.”

It’s dark by the time they head back to the boat eating ice cream as a dessert for their fish and chips dinner. It’s a small boat, an old fishing trawler turned into something of a pleasure craft. It says day trips on a lake Erie to Nile not people smuggling across the sea. But she thinks that might be the point. Nicky and the captain talk as the others go below deck. Andy and Joe are nervous, but about what Nile does not know, a head shake and a glare stop her asking. Nicky follows them down as the engine starts. “A few hours, Boss, we will be in Ostend by dawn.”  
“Okay, I just hate sailing the channel” Andy breaths out  
“I know Boss, but Booker also knows and we do not know whom he told or what.” Nicky is calm.  
“You think he will screw you over again?”  
“I do not know what to think of him any more, Nile.” Nicky is less calm now.  
“The information is out there” Joe makes a sweeping gesture “Or not, we do not know what Booker told them, what they found out on their own. We should have asked.”  
“And he can lie” Nicky words have an undercurrent.  
“Yes, My love, he lies well, but if he is remorseful he will tell the truth.” Joe makes to calm things down.  
“And if he is not.”  
“Hence we are on a boat, hence Antwerp and then Yannik, even if he is an ass.”  
“He is an ass and if he pinches yours again I will remove his hand.”  
“Any torture is worth it to see you safe, my love, my All.” Joe is standing by Nicky now, slowly telegraphing the movement of his hand towards Nicky’s shoulder.  
“If you two have sex on this boat I will throw you both overboard.” Andy interrupts them.  
“Yes, Yes, Boss, No sex in communal space I remember. Nile there is a bunk, here is a blanket and pillow, get some sleep, you have done much driving today and more tomorrow. Nicky and I will sit watch.” Joe passes her the items, they are still in the wrappers not the ones Andy had earlier in the car. That set he gives to Andy. He then pulls out some cards and travel game of connect-four, some dice and a notebook. Nile is too sleepy to ask, it is as if every conversion is a minefield and she has no idea what will set one of them off.

Nile wakes at one point to see Andy asleep in a chair, Nicky and Joe wrapped in blankets playing a game with counters and dice, that looks like some love-child of checkers, tic-tac-toe and yahtzee. As she falls back asleep she thinks it’s not the love-child, it’s the grandparent.


	2. Day two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Nicky's Plan, money and ID's.  
> Nile asks more questions.  
> Nicky is not Okay.

Day Two:

As Nicky promised the boat puts into Ostend just before dawn. The marina is still sleeping as the boat idles to a stop just long enough for them to get off. There are a few people at the train station when they get there. Nile watches Joe pick-pocket two of them, use their swipe cards to buy two train tickets each and then return the wallets. On the train to Antwerp, Nicky and Joe sleep, Andy keeping guard. Nile looks out the window. “Are we in France?” The signs are just in french, she thinks, it's just that there are two languages on most of them.  
“No Belgium”  
“Belgium, that’s this country, Ostend was the town.”  
“Yes, Belgium is a country, this is the Flemish bit, they speak dutch, The Waloons speak french, they live in the south.” Andy explains.  
Nile takes that in. Last week the only countries she had been to had been Afghanistan and the USA. Now she could add France, England and Belgium, a country she has never heard of.  
“You must think I am so stupid, with all the questions”  
“No, just young.” Andy spares a look at Nile, she looks small and lost. “I will teach you to fight. Nicky and Joe will enjoy teaching everything else.”

The train ride is short, only two hours, Nile has no idea how far they have come, Nile only experience of train travel is the ‘L’ in Chicago, she thinks it was a smooth journey, compared to that . Antwerp station is busier than Ostend and bigger. Joe lifts another couple of wallets and just takes the cash leaving the wallets by a bin. Breakfast is cheese sandwiches and fruit from their supplies, eaten in the Stadspark near the Grand cafe. Nicky takes Nile with him when he goes to get the money, they bring the snack rucksack, emptied out, mostly by Andy’s snacking and some rearranging by Joe. Antwerp has a diamond district, Nike learns from Nicky, between the park and the train station and this is where he takes her. As Joe and Andy are left safely drinking coffee, now the cafe is open, looking at cars for sale on a website that might even be less legal than Craig's list.  
"Nicky, can I ask a question."  
"You have not asked permission before."  
"This is personal" Nike hesitates.  
Nicky sighs, "Ask your question Nile, I will answer, the answer could be 'I will not answer that' or that, ‘Joe and I will speak to you later’. But there will be a response."  
"Why did Andy want Joe to stop writing poems" it comes out in a rush.  
Not a sex question then thinks Nicky, "Quyhn was a fan, came from a culture of poetry like Yusuf, encouraged him. When she was lost to us Joe stopped composing even after we stopped looking, he's muse was gone, he said." A small smile. "Then when he started again, he wrote verses to deal with his grief. Andy asked him to stop, she would tell him when she could hear them again. She never did. Booker was not a fan of poetry, did not get the layers to a line. He made fun of Joe's work once, Andy laughed. Lines were drawn between the four of us."  
"That must have sucked"  
"It is what it is. Joe draws more now, he had already had talent and he says he enjoys it. It was hobby not a professional before Quyhn was lost, now his muse likes drawing."  
"Joe did not always draw"  
"I think it took longer for him to get over the fact he is not supposed to draw images of people than any other religious taboos. Not that he likes bacon or shellfish and I still have not worked out if the marshmallow thing is religious or texture"  
"Okay, a) Joe is religious, b) he should not be drawing people c) Marshmallows?" Nile lists things on her fingers.  
"Joe and I both keep a version of our faiths." Nicky bends one of his three raised fingers down. "Does the Bible not still have the commandment about false idols, Islam has at times taken that to mean any of god's creations, so no pictures of people or animals, just patterns and plants. Joe has always drawn them. Made a name as a botanical artist back in the 17th or 18th century." One fingers left, "Marshmallows have gelatin, gelatin is rarely Halal in Christian countries. But he won't eat them even when we are in countries where they are Halal."  
Nile tried to take that all in. It's a lot to unpack and the Christian comment feels like a dig "That commandment is still in the Bible."  
"Good, I lose track of all the changes at the reformation and I find faith is personal and private these days. What brand of Christian are you Is never a good question to ask"  
Nike does not know if that is a warning about asking Nicky about his beliefs or an opening to talk about hers. By the time she has made up her mind to speak they have reached a door. Nicky presses the intercom, gives the name Nicolas Smith. The door buzzes open and they go in. There is a second door that only opens once the first is closed, beyond that a short corridor then a workshop. It's light, clean, well maintained and modern, not what Nile was expecting. Nile thought they would be dark, clandestine, that this would be something done in the shadows, a criminal activity, now she has no idea what is happening. Nicky cheerfully greets the man they make small talk in a language she does not recognize. The man's eyes flick to Nile. He makes a comment about Joe, Nicky reply's smiling and the man smirks as he comments back. Nicky goes red "English for the lady, Jakob"  
"English it is," Jakob's accent is strong. "What do you have for me this time, Nicolas?"  
Nicky takes a small bag out of his pocket, carefully drawing out a necklace and brooch, the metal of both is black with age, the stones still shine.  
"Nicolas where do you find these things?"  
"Here and there, these two in a box in the eaves of a 16th century house, I was putting new brand roof beams in for, before we sold it on."  
"Joseph's storytelling is better."  
"Do you really care?"  
"No, move you are in my light."  
Nicky steps back and Jakob inspects the jewelry.  
Nile has so many questions, Nicky can read them on her face.  
"We have no provenance for the diamonds, they are not marked as they are so old. The jewelry is not recorded anywhere. We could auction it but we would could get less and it would be a hassle. Jakob will give a fair price he can tell they are not blood diamonds he will cut them and sell them on. We all go away happy."  
"This is how we make money?"  
"No, the jobs pay, this is Joe and I money, now yours too."  
"Cheating on your team?" Jakob asks.  
"Seb has had a falling out with Joe and I. He cheated us, endangered us. We are going our own way. Taking the new girl, as we are not getting any younger."  
“It’s good stuff Nickolas. The large stones are 10 and 9 carats, baguette cut, very clear” Jakob puts the jewelry down. “I can give you 850 for the lot.”  
“Jakob, Joe is not here, I have had a bad week, I am tired, I am not going to haggle. A fair price or I will kill you take everything from the safe and the jewelry.” Nicky sounds very put upon like he should not have to explain this yet again.  
“1.55 for both baguettes, cash, you can have the rest back.” Jakob is nervous, sweating.  
“See is this not better Jakob, put the money in the bag, one and two hundreds only” Nicky places the rucksack on the table. Jakob takes it and gets the money from safe, stacks of euros filling it up. The rucksack is heavy when Nile puts it on her back six or seven kilos of money. Jakob then removes the two largest diamonds from the jewelry, handing the rest back to Nicky. “Thank you for doing business with us.” Nicky starts in English as he pockets the little bag. Then moving into the other language, all calm and friendly, a smile on his face. Nile does not ask any questions on the way back to the stadspark, Nicky does not speak to her either, he seems jumpy. It’s making Nile unsure of him, she had Nicky pegged as the nice one. Andy and Joe are not at the table they left them at, both Nicky and Nile are on alert, Nile itches for a gun. There is a whistle from the other side of the cafe and there safe and sound are Joe and Andy. Nicky strides over, Nile trailing behind, he kisses Joe when he gets there, passionately and unexpectedly, Joe’s hand reaching up to the ones Nicky has cupping his face. Their foreheads touch at the end of the kiss.  
“Nicolo?” Joe breaths out.  
“I threatened to kill Jakob, as he went to haggle and I had no patience for it.”  
“He was polite about it.” Nile adds stand just out of range of both of them.  
“It’s okay Nicolo, you are good, Nile is good, I am good, Andy is good. Jakob is unhurt, we have some money. Andy has picked a car, we can pay for it.” Joe lips are centimetres from Nicky, foreheads touching hands clasped between them. Nicky lets out a sound that sounds like a sob. “I am here with you, we are together, we have eaten today, we have water and clothes, we have food for later. We have somewhere safe to sleep, warm and dry.” Nile looks away, hating to think that there were days and times when they did not have these basic things. She misses most of the last bit except the word crocodile and Nicky’s laugh explodes in a small burst. He sits down on Joe’s knees and kisses him again, a gentle little thing, he leans back and takes a deep breath. As he slowly lets it out, Nicky straightens up and fits back into his skin. Standing up, he looks to Andy, “You picked a car?”

Ninety minutes later the four of them are in a 2002 white opal, heading down the E313 toward Luxembourg. Nile is driving, Andy playing navigator, Joe and Nicky asleep in the back hands clasped together in the middle seat.

The E313 becomes E25, then as Belgium becomes Luxembourg the A6, Once they get to the outskirts of Luxembourg the town, Andy wakes Nicky and he directs them to a parking garage below a park. They leave the car Joe and Nicky using a whole pack of wet wipes to clean the surfaces down as Nile goes to the bathroom and Andy pays for an all day stay.  
“We are not coming back for it?” Nile asks on her return.  
“We might, it depends if anyone has followed us or is out of place.” Andy replies.  
Joe shrugs, Nicky turns and heads out of the garage into the park, dumping their rubbish in the third and fifth bins he passes. Joe brings up the rear and as they wander down a street of mansion-like old houses, at one of them Nicky heads down some steps at the side that lead to a basement door. Joe enters a code to the door lock and they go in. The stairs lead down to a vaulted basement that runs the whole length of the building. It’s split into sections, a photo shot area is in the back corner, with some rails of clothes and a selection of backdrops, a horseshoe of monitors and computers in front of that, level with the stairs. The middle third is taken up with printers and racks of paper, the last section has sofas, a TV and a small kitchen in one corner, the other corner is walled off, with a door, Nile guess this is where the toilet is. The man at the computers gets up as they come down the stairs, joining them when they reach the bottom. He and Joe hug without speaking, the man hand moves down from the small of Joe’s back.  
“Yannick” Nicky snaps, the man steps back, hands on Joe’s shoulders looking over to Nicky  
“Guten Tag Nikolas”  
“If you want to keep your hands, keep them off what is mine.” Nicky’s German is clear and sharp.  
“He is in a good mood, the treats don’t usually start ‘til later.” Yannick reptiles looking only at Joe.  
“Nicky, my All, go sit down, please,” Joe says in his and Nicky brand of Italian, as he takes Yannick’s hand off his shoulders. “Nile, Yannick speaks No English only German, French and Luxembourgish. We will translate if it is needed. Do you have any name preferences? Nile is not a common name.”  
“No, I mean, something nice, not too different. I am going to sit with Nicky.”  
“Andrea” Andy informs him as she passes.  
“These are not the normal people you bring me Joseph, has something happen” in a lower voice, turned away from the sofa, “Must I be raided, unfortunately.”  
“No, Yannick, it is kind of you to offer. Nicky and I have been betrayed, we have lost everything and we must run.” Joe's voice is sad but he smiles at the offer of help.  
“The women?”  
“We are family and we must run together.” Joe offers.  
“They are not wives, not for you two” Yannick walks toward the computers, “Sisters? Andrea and Nicky, yes. Not you and Nile. Cousins? that might work.” Yannick is mostly talking to himself. “Are you German, Dutch or French”  
“Not French, never French!” Nicky shouts from the sofa making to rise, Andy pulls him back down.  
“All of us German, Nile, Nina American by her father, Ramstein air base, new to the passport, cousin to me, her mother sister to my father. Moroccan mother for me. Both only children. Nicky, he and Andy, brother and sister.” Joe says from where he has taken a seat in the horseshoe.  
“You have thought about this.”  
“Yes, get to work.”  
“Passports”  
“Yes”  
“Driving licence”  
“Nile and Andy only, German” Joe pauses “and USA for Nile.”  
“Marriage certificate.”  
“Yes” Joe whispers “Name change too, for me to Wisse-Muller, from Wisse”  
“Nikalas is Muller?”  
“Yes.” it's more like a rush of air than a word.  
Yannick squeeze Joe’s hand. “He loves you, marriage or not.”  
“I know, but to have legal papers for all to see that love.” Joe is getting emotional, Yannick shoots a look at Nicky who is in the kitchen.  
“My papers are not legal.”  
Joe huffs, “Your papers are the best.”  
“Flatterer”  
“Always”  
“When did you and Nicky marry”  
“13th of the 5th,” Joe says quickly, then cuts himself short, looks across the room “2010?”  
Yannick spares another look at Nicky, he looks to be cooking.  
“Mother and father's names?”  
“Magda and Mario for Andy and Nicky, Saana and Klaus for me, Ericka and “Joe switches to English and a louder volume. “Nile, what is a good first name for an American airman.”  
“What? why?”  
“Your father’s name, for the paperwork.”  
“David?”  
“Erica and David Fowler”  
“Okay” Yannick turns to the computers and starts putting information in. A short time later Nicky comes across with a bowl of soup that he puts down by Yannick away from the keyboards. He leads Joe away to eat with the others.  
Later still they have photos taken and Joe answers more questions. Nile and Andy play along to a game show on TV, to which neither of them know the rules and Nile does not speak the language. Nile claims she is winning. Finally the last printer stops and Yannick issues documents to everyone.  
“‘Nina Fowler’ I can live with that, but why Florida?” she says holding the driving licence.  
Joe relays the question. Yannick points at her “Montana or Florida” he raises a hand at each state then moves them up and down, when he stops the Florida one is higher. Nile gets it, he had the choice of the two and picks the best suited one for her skin tone.  
Nicky has taken Joe’s ID and then the paperwork. He stares at them for a long time before handing them back, “Incurable romantic” is all he says.  
Nicky takes the money bag and leads Yannick off, they have a short discussion and a sum of money is handed over. Business concluded Yannick hugs Nicky to his shock and comes over and hugs Joe. “You two stay safe, I hope to one day see you again, when I'm old and grey and you are still young.” Andy has a knife in her hand, Nicky has a hand on Yannick in seconds. “I have been making you ID’s for 20 years and you have not aged. You think I do not remember your kindness to my mother, long before. You do good things, I will not stop that. I do not ask how and I do not care.”  
Joe looks to Andy, Andy puts her knife away. “Killing him here will only make them look at the computers.”  
“I know nothing, I am mistaken” Yannick backtracks.  
“Yes, you are.” Nicky's voice is cold.  
“What can I tell anyone? Who would come to me?” Yannick continues, “I know the good I do for you, the people you bring to me, balance out the others I work for. If I can not be trusted with their real ID’s they would do a lot more than kill me. You would make it quick?”  
“Yes, as painless as I could.” Nicky sounds apologetic.  
“Okay” Yannick is resigned, “Where?” he asks Andy.  
“For fuck sake, we are not going to kill you.” Andy snaps.  
“We are not?” Joe asks, his face not sure which emotion to set on.  
“You trust him, Nicky?”  
“Yes, both his work and heart, he has been an asset in the past and proven trustworthy.”  
“Then we trust this man will keep his mouth shut.”  
Nicky nods and steps away from Yannick gathering up their possessions. Joe moves back in to hug Yannick again. “Goodbye and Thank you Yannick, for your help.” Joe steps away finally, switching to English “Nile we are leaving.”

On the walk back to the car Andy fills Nile in on the conversion, Nicky and Joe walking ahead talking in their Italian. At the park Nicky stops, stills and turns, “Bank accounts.” is his explanation and changes direction. They used their new Id’s to set up current accounts in two different banks in the town center, the money bag now empty, divided between six accounts. It’s not as hard as Nile thought it would be, Nicky says it’s because Luxembourg is a tax haven, all Nile knows is she has two bank accounts each with more money than she has ever had before.

When they stop off at a flat, newly booked on Airb’n’b in Trier, the sun has set. Nile has added Luxembourg and Germany to her list of countries. The flat is quite modern in design, two bedrooms, one bathroom and an open kitchen on one side, a counter dividing it from the living space, kitchen table then living room, all the other rooms come off the living space. Nicky heats up some canned soup and grills some cheese on toast, from the supplies in the rucksack, they will have to go shopping tomorrow to get more food, they have two nights here, then no plan. They eat at the kitchen table. Nile does the washing up after. Joe unpacks his last bag of useful things, a change of clothes, a pack of underwear and socks for everyone, toothpaste and toothbrushes, shower gel and scrunchies, shampoo and a small plastic toy crocodile. It’s the last thing Joe takes out of the now empty bag, setting down on the table in front of Nicky as he is turned to answer Nile's question. Nicky falls silent at the sight of the crocodile, in a burst of energy destroying it with the hilt of a knife, Nile did not know he had on him. It is the single most violent display she has seen, Nicky is intense in his action, he does not stop when his hand is cut by the plastic. Joe is laughing so hard he falls off his chair and can not breathe, Nicky glaring at him, once the crocodile is atomized, only making him laugh more. Nicky stands and steps over a gasping Joe, heads into one of the bedrooms. Joe stops laughing. Nicky comes back out with a pillow and duvet, throwing both on the sofa. Joe tries to speak to Nicky, to touch him, all mirth gone from his face at punishment of a night apart. Nicky takes one of the travel blankets out of the holdall and his change of clothes, going back into the bedroom. Nicky, does not speak, does not slam the door, the silence rings louder than words could.  
“Nicky does not like crocodiles,” Andy explains to Nile. “You are mean to your Love” She says to Joe. “So very mean.”  
“All the passion, strength and focus, My Love is a wondrous man” Joe is clearing away crocodile bits and blood, the table may never be the same again. Something hits the bedroom door.  
“Your Love is not happy with you.” Nile points out.  
“Better to let the pot whistle then explode” Joe muses.  
“Oh he exploded”  
Andy snorts “That was a steam vent, not an eruption. Last time someone took Joe, well, even I thought it was a little over vengeful.”  
“He was magnificent.”  
“You think all the times he killed you was a romantic gesture.” Andy points out.  
“I am happy to be a source of My love’s passion. I enjoy any sword” They way he says the word makes it clear it has two meanings “he chooses to put in me” Something hits the door again. “as he has put it here.” Nicky is glaring from the open door.  
“You are not getting a sword in you anytime soon” Andy laughs.  
Nicky gently shuts the door.  
“Okay, who wishes to play cards.” Joe is full of false cheer.  
“I am going to shower” says Nile,thinking these people are crazy.

When Nile comes out the bathroom, changed into new underwear and a tee-shirt, Joe is on the sofa. “Andy has taken the other bedroom, it has a double bed, the other single is with Nicky, he is not mad at you. Andy does not share well”  
Nile hesitates.  
Joe thinks he gets why, the group sleeping together in one room is different to two people alone in a room together. A man and a woman together, it still a risk if you are not sure of each other. They have only been together a short time, a week at the most, he thinks, he is unsure of the length of time in the lab, it was forever and only a day or two. That not long not to Nile, right, he goes to reassure her. “Nicky, My Nicolo, he has never had an interest in women or in sex not freely given. Of the three of us you are the safest with him. It is not the same bed, just the same room.”  
“Are you going to be alright alone?” Which is why she hesitated, he looks so sad.  
“No, but that is the point, I failed to protect him, there should be punishment for that.”  
“I don’t understand you people, but that is the normal at the moment.” She thinks on what he said “Woman or rape?”  
“Pardon!” Joe is still polite and slightly old fashioned even in a shocked state.  
“Nicky does not do woman or rape, which do you?”  
Joe put on the spot, tells the truth, he sounds guilty, eyes flicking to the door Nicky is behind. “I had a wife, Asia, Maryam was born of our passion. Rafik duty, I have only given myself to Nicky since.”  
“Did Booker know?” Nile asks, the thought of Joe with someone other than Nicky is odd and she is not sure about Joe’s word choice but she also can not deal with the answers, to questions she does not know how to ask, “That you had a family too?”  
“He never asked, I never told him and it was different for me. I had left my family to go to Damascus, to make a name for myself with the silk road trade. I had such plans to join up our trading routes once my uncle was dead and my brother or cousin was in charge of the business. I had already divorced Asia so she could marry Malique. He made her so happy and was a good man, a good friend. He took on Maryam, Rafik, Nadeem and Nadia, which he should have as there is no way the youngest two were not but his and we were not sure about Rafik. But I saw him, once full grown, looking so much like my brother he had to be mine.” Joe has such pride and love in his voice, for a child long dead.  
“Does not sound that different, you had a family, they got old and died.”  
“Maybe it is not, but they lived their lives and I was already gone from them by my choice. Maybe that was why Booker is different in his way of thinking. I do not know. Go to sleep Nile. I wish to cry in peace.”  
When Nile enters the bedroom Nicky is sitting on the bed wrapped in the travel blanket, Joe’s one if she remembers the colours right. She has no doubt Nicky heard everything.  
“I sure he is not going to cry” Nile is hopeful she is right.  
“No, he will and he did not fail me nor I him.” The last bit is louder so Joe can hear.  
“I am sorry”  
“What for? Nile you have done no wrong. If you had not come for us we still maybe in the lab. I owe you my life and my loves. I am indebted to you.”  
“Every conversation with you guys is a minefield.” Nile sighs.  
“Yes. But they are not for you, Nile and we should say the things unspoken.”  
“You have bad coping mechanisms.”  
“Joe knows I have to hit something and I do not want to lose control, Joe needs to cry and can not do it in front of me as I will comfort him and he does not want that, so I am mad at him and he can have his time to be sad. We know each other and our needs, we are doing what we must to get better and it is hard on all of us. Harder still if we did not let some emotions break out. We are safe here, tonight”  
Nile takes that in and thinks about how well they must know each other after 900 years together. Wonders if they have any secrets left from each other. “Did you know about Asia?”  
“Yes, Maryam’s first son was called Yusuf and looked so like his grandfather I nearly got myself killed.” Nicky is smiling, these are happy memories.  
“Did you hit on Joe’s grandson?”  
“He flirted back, until his uncle appeared, even the voice was similar. But he stopped and Joe, he does not stop, even back then” Nicky’s voice is fond, his eyes far off.  
Nile falls back on the bed laughing.  
“What is Nile laughing at?” Joe yells.  
“Nicky can not tell his Yusufs apart.” Nile shouts back between gasps.  
“He did in the end” Joe defends Nicky.  
“Go to sleep” Andy shouts from her room.  
“Yes, Boss” they call back.


	3. day three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day of rest and relaxation.  
> Or Nile turn to be not okay.

Day three:

When Nile wakes, Nicky's bed is empty, made again with the duvet and pillow, the main room is empty but she can hear both the shower and washing machine going, her clothes from before gone from the floor where she left them. There is coffee, in the machine and the last of the bread and cheese. Breakfast sorted, Nile sits at the table, running her hand over the dents Nicky left last night, she can feel bits of plastic embedded in the wood. Andy comes out of the shower in just her towel, joining Nile with a cup of coffee.   
“The boys went to the shop.” Andy breaks the silence.   
“Are they doing better? Did whatever last night was help?” Nile really wants to ask if she being here is making things worse, making them think about things they do not want too.  
“Nicky had Joe pinned against the wall when I got up, so they have made up.” Andy says matter of factly. She stares at a middle distance. “I keep trying to think what happened on the 13th of May, that Nicky thinks is so romantic, he had to have Joe at the sight of the day on that marriage certificate, this morning. It could be anything with those two, it’s just that I can’t think of anything. It’s bugging me.”  
“You could ask”  
“I am not asking, you ask.”  
“I think they are fed up with my questions.” Nile is feeling sad again, now they have stopped moving. It washes over her like a wave finally making it to the beach.  
“They will tell you if they are, or stab you. Joe stabbed Booker a fair bit in the beginning. Nicky the once but Booker was out of line with that comment.”  
Nile thinks Joe stabs where like when some of the guys punch each other, a warning that he went too far, Nicky she has no doubt killed Booker “Nicky says Booker was mean to them when you met him.”   
Andy snorts at the use of the word mean, that it is Nicky’s word choice like they are children in a playground, not seasoned soldiers who know how to stick the knife in with just words, leaving you bleeding and raw. “Booker was a man of this time. He said some things, ignorant and misplaced, bigoted” Andy goes for an example of a view she does not hear these days, “things like two men together, one must really want to be a woman. He speculated on that quite a bit. They worked things out.”  
“Did they or did he just stop saying what he thought.” Nile asks, Nicky has been clear he still thinks Booker's homophobia is still in play, she is curious to see if Andy thinks so too.  
Andy sighs, “I don’t know. I thought so.”  
Andy finishes her coffee in silence, leaving the cup on the table she goes to the bedroom and does not come back out.  
Nile clears the table, gets another cup of coffee, then puts the tv on, she has flicked through all the channels twice when Joe and Nicky return, no shopping bags but a rucksack each and the one holdall that is not the one left by the sofa, filled with guns and ammo. Joe starts to empty the holdall on the counter, Nicky puts stuff straight into the fridge, Nile makes her way over to see what they have got.   
“Nile, the woman in the shop said African hair, like yours, is different and you need special shampoo and conditions and hair things” Joe is speaking excitedly in German at her.  
“Joe, English please, I got my name, a woman and Africa?”  
“Nile, we were in the supermarket” he paused to check it’s English this time, Nile gives him a thumbs up. “The woman in the shampoo aisle said you need different products for your hair, so I got some.” He starts putting shampoo, conditioner, combs, wax and such in front of her, beaming away. Everything is in German but she can guess what it all is and suddenly it hits her that there is no going home, no going back, this is her life now and it looks familiar but is in fact incomprehensible. She starts to cry. Someone is wrapping her in a hug and pulling her onto the sofa. She hears words over her head in two voices but she could not comprehend it, even if it was English, as she sobs into a man's chest, then fingers stroking the back of her neck, soft sounds breathed into her hair. It’s comforting and just makes her cry more.

Nile does not remember falling asleep but she wakes lying on a man's chest, tear tracts dry and itchy on her face, snot around her nose, the top wet under her face. Her eyes do not feel raw, healed by her new ability, Joe is talking, reading aloud from one of the books in the flat, sat on the armchair to the side of the sofa. She must be on Nicky. Fingers stroke the back of her neck again, Nicky is whispering things into her hair again, Joe’s reading does not falter but he smiles at her when she looks his way, across from him in the recliner is Andy, she waves a glass at Nile in greeting. Nicky whispering switches to English, “It’s okay, you are safe, talk your time, we will look after you, we care for you, don’t worry,” then Italian with the same pattern then Arabic, then something else, a wash of sound flowing over her, it never goes to German to clash with Joe’s reading. Eventually Nile sits up, Nicky passes her a wet wipe for her face and sits up too. Joe seems to come to a stopping point in his reading, falling silent.  
“Yusuf is very sorry he broke you.”  
“I did not mean to cause offence, I will not listen to women in shops anymore '' Joe has one hand on his heart the other in the air.  
Nile smiles, these two are so cute.   
“I told Joe hair is still a big thing for women, he should not mess with what he does not understand.” Andy adds, her voice is full of mence, directed at Joe.  
Nile can’t let this go on, “Joe did good, he got the right stuff, far more than I need normally, but my hair does not have to be regulation now, so I have choices. thank you.”  
“Then this was” Nicky asks gently.  
“The labels are in German and it all just hit me you know.”  
Nicky looks to Joe, who shakes his head, “We do not know.”  
“How I know what my life was before but now everything is the same but different.”  
“Ah, that, yes, we know that.” Nicky says putting his hand on her shoulder, “We are here for you, just tell us what you need.” He is earnest in his words.  
“What did you need?”  
Joe laughs standing and walking to the kitchen, “I am making lunch.”  
“A minimum of ten years, around a 100 deaths, a dozen screaming rows with Yusuf.”   
“Only a dozen”  
“I am only counting the ones where we killed each other or separated. The others were discussions.”  
“There was a time when he would tell you water was not wet as I had said it was.”  
“You were wrong about many things.”  
“Name two”  
“These berries are safe to eat and the river has no crocodiles in it”  
“Okay, I was wrong about those things.”  
“This route will not cross Frankish lines.”  
“I said two things. Constantinople was nicer than Venice.”  
“Yes, it was, but then anywhere is, Venice sucks”  
“Nile, never forget, Nicolo is Genoese first, Italian second.”  
“Okay, you're changing the subject.” Nile is catching on to their tricks.  
Nicky takes a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh, he gives Nile a small smile as he orders his thoughts. “I had to come to terms with the fact that much of what I was taught was wrong. Yusuf’s people were people, the same as me. That we were the invaders and what we did was not God's will. Islam and Christianity had more in common than I was lead to believe. Roma was not the centre of the world. European art and literature were not the only art and literature. Mathematics, astronomy, history, a certain tolerance to different people, every worldview and foundation of knowledge was challenged.” He pauses, for a couple of seconds, moving his hand like he is physically trying to order his thoughts “This was after I had to work out why my god had done this to me.” He pauses again. “Yusuf was a constant in those years and he made me question my faith, views, mind as I fell in love with him.”  
Nile waits for him to speak again, but he seems done for now. “This took ten years.” She does not want to feel like this for ten years.  
“No. A year to accept Yusuf was right when he said our gift was Allah’s will and we should accept it and not question it, who are we to know God's will.”  
Andy makes a noise from where she is lying back, showing she is listening.  
“Boss, our Nile wears the cross of Nicky’s god on her, she has faith, the same as us, you do not have to agree, just accept.” Joe tone is respectful but warning, like a sergeant calling a captain on a bad order.  
“It’s all made up nonsense.”  
“It’s our made up nonsense, Boss.” Nicky the peacemaker puts in.  
“Whatever.”  
Nicky turns back to Nile. “Ten years to know I would have to rethink everything, that my first views on any subject were going to be wrong, nearly thirty to let myself become a scholar again, to learn what I should have been taught. To be with Yusuf took twelve years, to do so without doubt or regret another five. Our love is not a sin.” He looks at Joe.  
“I would have happily waited another twelve for you. my love.”  
“You did not go through this Joe.” Nile asks to stop whatever soppy things they are going to say to each other.  
Joe sits on the back of the sofa, Nicky’s hand goes to the small of his back. “No, my doubts and questions came later, some around my faith and my nature, culture that changes with place and time. More questions on how to live this long life, than my personal place in the world.”   
“Your nature?” Joe seems so sure of himself, happy in his skin, Nile can not believe he had doubts about himself. He is clear in his love for Nicky, it upsets her that he would have questioned it.  
“I’” Joe stops unsure how to word something so personal. “I like what I like.” Nicky makes a happy noise and Joe presses back onto his hand. “I am not Nicky’s slave or possession but I am his, I am Andy’s to command and I am still a man even though I submit to both of them in different ways. There was a time when others took that to mean I am weak. I had doubts.”  
“When was this?” asks Andy looking up, Joe has not changed much in the time she has known him, confident little shit he is, Nicky, he has had some moods.  
“1390-ish” Joe wobbles his hand, “India down to Cambodia.” He draws a line through the air.  
“You did not talk much then, I thought you had trouble with the language.” Andy face is scrunched up, trying to place the events.  
“I did Boss, but I was also doing a lot of thinking.”  
“You did not change your behavior.” Andy says thinking back.  
“Well no, I chose not to care what people who will not come back to life when I kill them think.”  
Andy laughs, Joe wanders back to the kitchen to stir foods cooking in pots. It is starting to smell good, spicy, Niles tummy rumbles.  
“We all come to this as our own person, we bring who we are and what we are to this new life. There is no right way to be or do this Nile. The people we once were are not who we are now or will be in 100 years. You must walk your own path but we will walk with you.”  
Nile nods at his words. She thinks on things as Joe finishes cooking lunch. As they sit down to eat, there is not much talk, as if the other senses Nile’s mood or have thoughts of their to occupy them.   
Nile all but inhales her lunch before taking in what it is, a rice and a bean and vegetable dish that is not chile or curry, but filling and not too spicy, although there is milk and bread, just in case.   
After lunch Nile sits curled up to Nicky as Joe continues reading, she does not understand the words but it’s a good background as she thinks about her family and future, if they notice she starts crying a couple of times no-one says anything.

Nile is taken out of her thoughts as Nicky shifts under her, it has become too dark in the room for Joe to read, Andy is snoring away on the recliner.  
“I am going to cook dinner.” Nicky explains as he gets up, he presses a kiss to Nile’s temple and Joe makes a noise, Nicky leans over him and kisses his temple, Joe then takes a kiss on Nicky’s lips. Nicky lets him have a second and third before pulling away “Dinner.”  
Joe pouts as Nicky pulls away. Nile is hit with a flash of envy that she has never had this kind of love. The next wave of emotion is of protection, she will fight for these two and their love, this settles and pools in her, filling some of the empty spaces. Nile remembers Andy’s question from the morning before her outburst, how was that only this morning, she feels whole lives have been lived in this day, future paths she has walked down and come back from. The electric lights Nicky turns on make everything more real. She can hear Nicky in the kitchen. Nile looks at the sleeping form of Andy and asks Joe, “What is the significance of the thirteen of May, between you and Nicky?”  
“My love and I were wed.” Joe informs her.  
“Not on the stuff from Yannick, in real life.”  
“In real life” Joe catch Nicky’s eye across the room and winks, “ sort of”  
“Sort of?”  
Joe is still looking at Nicky, “You tell her the story, you pick the date.” Nicky informs him, starting to chop vegetables.  
“It was 1310 not 2010, when we were married, in a church in, do you know I can’t think which country it is now, it was Tyrol, but whether it is Italy, Austria or Switzerland now, the town was called Eyrs.”  
“Oris” Nicky corrects.  
“Eyrs Oris, it’s Tyrol.” Joe's explanation only confuses Nile more. “Most of Tyrol is in Italy now, but the People are German, they speak German, places have two names”  
“Europe is so complicated.” Nile whinges.  
“Most places with history are.” Joe acknowledges. “You could, as a Knight, bind yourself to another Knight, a platonic bond of duty and allegiance between equals before God. We were not the only men to use it as a marriage, it was common, an accepted thing to do.”  
“That was really a thing? Like church approved gay marriage?”  
“It was meant to be a platonic bond but no-one asked what you did behind closed doors.”  
“Wow” Nile is shocked that the church did this so long ago. “So, you have been married for over seven hundred years.”  
“Yes”  
“Eyrs?” Asks Andy  
“The road between Churburg castle and Juval Castle, the first stop, we were escorting pilgrims from the Abbey of Monte Maria up by Furstenburg.” Joe is drawing a map in the air.  
“For the Bishop of Chur” Andy recalls.  
“Yes.”  
“Did Quyhn and I come to this ceremony?”  
“Quyhn did, you were riding a head, with the two princess, we were with the walkers.” Joe says.  
“It was something we had been talking about for awhile. You had said your piece about marriage, Quyhn had said hers. Joe and I still wanted to do it, we were talking about finding the time to do it and a priest overheard us and we saw no reason not to, it was not planned.” Nicky calls finally joining in from the kitchen.  
“It felt right.” Joe states. “To bind ourselves together.”  
“I will never regret joining my life with yours, my love.” Nicky reassured him.  
“I still don’t see why you need the ceremony or piece of paper, when the two of you are so clearly together but it makes you happy. I guess I owe you a gift.” Andy gets off the recliner and heads to the bedroom. She comes to the door with the mobile phone. “Nile get in here and make the river shop bring me things.”  
“Does she mean Amazon?” Nile asks getting up.  
Joe nods, “Nicky and I are good for bedroom supplies” Knowing how Andy thinks.  
“Bedroom supplies?” Nile mouths “Oh, got it.”

Nicky calls them all for dinner, Andy and Nile have been in the bedroom giggling.  
“Where will we be tomorrow?” Nile asks as they sit down. “we are only here tonight.”  
“Anywhere you want to go?” Nicky asks her back.  
“I want to go everywhere, but you have already been there” She thinks for a second “you must have favorite places.”  
“We do, but Booker knows them.” Andy reminds her  
“We have not been everywhere.” Nicky sounds sulky.  
“There is somewhere you wish to go, my love?” Joe asks.  
“You said you would take me to Balansiyya, Medina at-Tarab.” He jabs his fork at Joe.  
“I can not take you somewhere that does not exist anymore.” Joe’s arms make sweeping motions.   
“El-Cid, the Almoravid and Almohad did not do that much damage to the city, the civil war left it relatively unscathed. It still stands, it’s just called Valencia now.” Nicky’s fork kicks upward at each name and event.  
“We were in Ibera at the time of the Almoravid, we went to Cordoba and Seville.” Joe recalls.  
“But not Valencia” Nicky finishes putting food in his mouth before swinging his fork at Joe.  
“The civil war.” Joe counters  
“Not Valencia. Booker was there. We were in Guernica” Nicky stabs his food.  
“The expulsions.” Joe names another time.  
“Not Valencia only as far north as Xabia.”  
“There will be nothing of the city I traded in left.” Joe says in a small voice.  
“I know, my Love.” Nicky smiles tightly at him, “It’s just you said you would show me, when we first went to Al-Anndalus. Then with how things were in Tangier and Genoa when we went back, I thought perhaps we were avoiding it.”  
“Maybe back then” He rubs his chest absently, like soothing an ache. “But not for a long time, we will go” Joe looks at Andy. “Boss can we go to Valencia?”  
“I thought Nile was picking?” Andy points out.  
Joe turns his puppy-dog eyes to Nile, “Nile would you like to go to Valencia?”  
“I never heard of it, where is this city?” Nothing Joe and Nicky has said rings a bell with her.  
“Spain.” Nicky tells her, getting up, he brings a map across to her from the bookshelves, an honest to goodness paper map. He opens it out on the floor by Niles chair “We are here, this is Valencia.”  
“That is a lot of driving.” Nile looks at the map.   
“Maybe twenty hours.” Nicky agrees.  
“I am not doing that in one hit. We need to pick a place to overnight in.” Nile says, looking at the map. “Lyon, that is France right?”  
“Yes Nile.” Nicky sounds proud of her for getting it right. “We must cross all of France to get to Spain.”  
“I’ve ticked off France.” Nile grumbles.  
“Pardon.” Nicky looks up at her.  
“Nothing, it’s just I have been to France, it is not a new country to add to my list.”  
“You could add Aquitaine, Toulouse and Gothia to the list.” Joe chips in. “They were all countries before they became France. Oh, Spain, Catalonia, Argon and Valencia. Plus Andorra.”   
“Is Andorra Spain or France now.” Nile frustration shows in her voice. She knows they don’t mean to make her feel stupid but they keep listing places she has never heard of.  
“It’s Andorra, a country in its own right. This is it here.” Nicky points to the map, this voice soothing, calm.  
“Could we go there?”  
“Yes of course. You are picking Nile. It’s a twelve or thirteen hours to drive, do you want to break it up”  
“Yes, what are these green bits, above Toulouse?” Nicky nods at her pronunciation.  
“National parks.”  
“Can we stop there?” She never went to national parks back home, never went anywhere.  
“Of course”  
“So a night in France and Andorra then Valencia for a week or do we need to keep moving?” Nile asks Andy, she wants to stop somewhere, find a balance in herself.  
“We can stay in Valencia.” Andy confirms.  
“We can stop for longer than a night, Nile” Joe says.  
“We do not have to go to Valencia.” Nicky adds.  
“I want to go, it will be a new place for all of us.”  
“Okay, we will plan after we have eaten. Nicky come eat.” Andy orders.

The meal is finished quickly. Nile feels guilty, Nicky’s cooking is good, she is not sure what she is eating again, it’s some kind of casserole, this time, she thinks, it has lots of vegetables, in a tomato based sauce with pasta and that would be enough to call it Italian back home. Maybe it does not have a name, maybe Nicky just made food. Nile keeps looking at the map Nicky left on the floor, she is also excited to plan a road trip, she never got to do one after high school, she joined up straight away and there never was the money for her to have a car anyway. Nile wipes the table down after they have cleared the plates, the dents from last night are still there but it has been smoothed over, the cloth does not catch. Nicky spreads the map on the table and Nile sits next to him looking north over France, Joe places some connect-four counters on the map, one red one each over Trier, Andorra and Valencia. He leaves one more red and some yellow in the Bay of Biscay. Andy takes the red counter, “Tomorrow night” and flicks it to land north-west of Toulouse.  
“Nile is picking, Boss.” Joe reminds her, moving the counter back.  
Nile runs here fingers along the map, it’s so different from google maps, nothing pops up, it does not change size, there is no street view, it feels magical almost, from a secret past, the paper has a smell.  
“They are going to be ages, come play cards.” Andy tells Joe over Nile’s head, neither has sat down. Nile can see the tiny nod of Nicky’s head before Joe moves, hand squeezing Nicky’s shoulder as he passes.  
Nile follows the 51 road she knows is near the apartment until it meets the A8 to Saalouis, then the D954 past Mezt and on to the A31. She gets to a town called Nancy, smiling at the name, she risks a look at Nicky, he is writing her picks down, the comment she was going to make dieing in her mouth. The A31 becomes the A6 for some reason before Lyon and she heads west on the A89, then down the A75, At Sant-Flour she marks the D921 to Rodez then the N88 to Albi and the N68 Toulouse, then the N61, N66, N20 to Andorra. The C-14, tot the A-2 to Zargotta and A-23 to just outside Valencia, with the V-21 into town. Nicky has the route noted down, Nile thinks it looks simple.  
“Joe you are fucking cheating again” Andy shouts, over the TV in they have put on a football game.  
“No, Boss, I would not cheat you, Boss. You have just been unlucky. We can play a different game.”  
“Where do you want to stop?” Nicky is smiling.  
“Around here” Nile points to Clermont-Ferrand. “Does that say Volcano?” She points to the Parc naturel regional des Volcans d’Auvergne.  
“Yes, Auvergne Volcano regional national park.”  
“Like real Volcanoes.”  
“Once, long before even Andy walked this earth.” he has a cheeky grin on his face, when Nile looks at him, he is not funny and takes the phone to look for somewhere to stay.  
“No one has an issue with Auvergne?” Nick calls to the others.  
“No camping.” Andy calls back.  
Nile finds a place called the Inn between Lakes and Volcanoes in La Cassiere. She books two rooms with Nicky consent for the next night. Google says her route there will take about seven and half hours, if they leave early and break for an hour lunch, they could be there by 1600. When she clicks on to Andorra the country then Andorra La Vella, the town for the next night in another hotel. A place called the Caldea comes up, it’s a spa. Nile flicks though some pictures, she has had fantasies about places like this when she was in Afghanistan.  
“Nile” Nicky asks gently.  
“Nothing Nicky, just a silly day dream” She shoves down her want, they are on the run they do not get things like this.  
“Tell me.”  
“It’s stupid.”  
“Your dreams are not stupid, you do not have to give everything up, we can try and make something happen for you. If you do not tell us, we can not tell you if it is possible.”  
Nile is choked up at Nicky’s sincerity he is going to make her cry. She shoves the phone at him. Nicky looks at the screen, pressing it a few times frowning. Nile is about to about pull the phone back when he says, “This is not an hotel, it’s a day spa, you could go for the afternoon or the next morning”  
“I could?”  
“I don’t see why not.”  
“Would you come with me?” Nile is shy, she never been to a place like this, what if they turn her away. Nicky’s white they will let her in with him and it seems far too girly for Andy.  
“Ummmm” Nicky hesitates.  
Joe laughs “Nicky does not like baths.”  
“I have nothing against baths. Now we have them in our homes I do not see why we have to go out to them”  
Joe sways over to lean his hip against Nicky’s chair. “I had to drag him kicking and shouting to his first bath house.”  
“I was not kicking.”  
“You bit me”  
“I thought you were trying to hurt me.”  
“To a bathhouse. I hear you, I would not want to go to one, that whole scene would freak me out.” Nile agrees with Nicky. They both look at her in confusion.  
“This is a bathhouse, a luxury modern one but a bathhouse” Nicky says he shows Joe the photo’s.  
“Nice” Joe agrees.  
“The American’s called Gay sex clubs bathhouses” Andy clears up the confusion from her chair.  
“They do?” Joe looks at Andy then to Nile “Why?”  
“I don’t know. You just wear towels or something. They just are a cruising place and they are skanky.”   
“Skanky is bad?” Asks Joe.  
“Cruising?” asks Nicky  
“Skanky is bad, wrong and dirty. Cruising is picking up someone for anonymous sex.”   
“Sounds like a Roman bath house.” Andy laughs.  
“The Ottoman’s knew what they were doing with bath houses.” Joe says to defend the institution.  
“They knew to pump the dirty water out.” Andy points out like that’s her only issue, with Roman bathhouses.  
“Yes, I enjoyed the Ottoman bath house very much, they had good paintings and stained glass windows often. It was kind of spiritual.” Nicky sounds far off.  
“Why did you think Joe wanted to hurt you?” Nile asks trying not to get lost in their tangential conversation.  
“I was raised to believe many wrong things” Nicky sighs “Too much washing weakens you, baths were bad for your health, too many could kill you.”  
Nile starts laughing, “For real” she manages to gasp out.  
“Why do you think Quyhn and I were in Asia at the time. Europe stank.” Andy calls.  
“It did.” Nicky agrees, Joe squeezes his hip against Nicky’s shoulder, Nicky tilts his head toward him.  
“It looks like a great place to relax, may I accompany you, in Nicky’s place.” Joe sounds so formal.  
“You can, if you want.” Nile sounds unsure.  
“You would feel safer with Nicky. I understand.” Joe sounds hurt, he gives the phone back to Nicky, clasping his hand.  
“No, well yes but not for that.” Nile starts, “Firstly, Joe I trust you, I could sit naked on your lap and you would just ask if I was too hot or need clean clothes or something, I know you're not going to do anything.” Joe’s face darkening with colour at her words, he moves behind Nicky's chair, away from Nile.  
“Please do not sit naked on my Love.” Nicky asks, he is also going red and trying not to laugh.  
“I will pay you five hundred Euro to do it.” Andy is laughing.  
“Two, Nicky is white and this place is fancy.” Nile speaks to Joe he has dark skin, he will understand.  
“I do not understand.”  
“You know,’cos I is black and they will be all this place is not for you.”  
“This has happened to you?” Joe sounds horrified.  
“It has not happened to you?”  
“Of course, but not…” He trails off.  
“But not” Nile encourages.  
“Since I was last in America back in the early 1970’s, that was the last time it happened that I did not expect it. I knew it would with The civil rights movement and in apartheid South Africa but that was all before you were born.” Nicky has pulled Joe’s arms around him, clasping his hands.  
Nile remembers Copley’s wall with Joe and Nicky at a Martin Luther King rally. “Before my parents were born for the American stuff.”  
“Nothing has changed.” Joe sounds so sad.  
“Some stuff has, it should not happen it’s just a worry with it being a fancy place, that’s all.” She tries to reassure him, surprised that Joe has not had the same recent experience, that his color is not an issue, what is wrong with her country that It has not been an issue for Joe longer than her life, when it has been for her.  
“It will be fine Nile, take Joe, have a good time.” Nicky sounds confident.   
“Okay, we’ll go” She will trust them if they say it will be fine. “Let me pick a hotel”  
“A small one not a chain.” Joe says as he walks back to Andy.   
Andy mumbles something to Joe, then “Book that air bee thing for ten days in Valencia, three bedrooms, town center.”  
“Is she getting the names wrong on purpose?” Nile asks Nicky.  
“I think she just does not care. She called Germany Purissia until 1950.”  
“Good to know.”  
As Nile books things on the phone Nicky keeps looking at the map in one area running his finger over a section of the A75. She picks out the Hotel Golden Tulip in Andorra. She sets about finding an apartment that meets Andy’s criteria in Valencia.  
“Nicky, Joe is cheating.” Andy calls out, “Again”  
Nicky absently tells Joe to stop counting cards without looking up.  
Joe huff can be heard at the table. “I will shuffle the deck after each card is put down.”  
“Somewhere you want to go.” Nile asks.  
“Viaduc de Millau” Nicky says after a pause.  
“It’s just a bridge, Nicky.” Joe points out before Nile can ask.  
“It is a 2.4km-long cable-stayed bridge, one of the tallest in the world it is a feat of engineering.”   
“It is a bridge, people have gotten good at making them over the years.”  
“Joe fight with you love or play cards don’t do both.” Andy orders.  
“It's off your route, '' he says to Nile.  
“We can keep on the A75 to go over it, then on to Beziers, take the A9 to Narbonne, then the A61 and the D199 back on to the N20 ” Nile points out. looking at the map,   
“You are driving.”  
“Yes, I am. So we will go over the bridge.”  
“If you are sure.”  
“I am.”  
Nicky smiles a happy smile at her, it leaves Nile feeling warm inside.  
“Where do you want to stop for lunch?”  
“Dijon? Like the mustard?”  
“Like the mustard, okay, restaurant or Pick-nic?”  
“Pic-nic?”  
Nicky pulls up google maps around Dijon. “Colombiere park, it’s off Chicago boulevard.”  
“No way” he shows her the map.  
“Yes! that’s all settled and done.”  
Nicky writes out the route neatly, each section on a line, with how to get to the stops. Nile studies the map, she finds Genoa, it’s not far from France. Not far from Lyon, they could get there in a day. Venice is the opposite side of Italy, like a mirror image of Genoa. She is looking of Eyrs when she hears a sound from Joe.   
“Finally” Andy crows “ I win a hand and I am going to bed.” she walks past them both ruffling Nick’s hair, “Nile do not to forget the package, a hotel will hold it for us if you call them to tell them it’s coming.”   
“I will sort it out, no worries.”  
Joe climbs behind Nicky on his seat, resting his head on Nicky’s back, wrapping his arms around Nicky’s waist. Nicky takes one of Joe's hands and kisses his fingers. “Sleepy, my love.”  
“I want you.”  
“I am here.”  
“I’ll sleep on the coach.”   
Joe turns his head to look at Nile not moving away from Nicky, his face confused “Why?”   
“So you and Nicky can have alone time.”  
“Alone time? We do not wish to be alone, not tonight.”  
“Look guys, I am a modern woman but”  
Nicky starts laughing. “Joe she means so we can have sex, you are sleepy.”  
“Why would we have sex?”  
“It is a thing married men do, my love.” Nicky is still laughing.  
“Oh, do you want to?”  
“Not tonight”  
“Good, I am sleepy. Tomorrow night?” Joe sighs and snuggles into Nicky.  
“Good to bed, my love.”  
“Join me, My all”  
“Soon.”  
Joe makes no attempt to move, his eyes are closed, Nile thinks he may have fallen asleep. She folds up the map and takes the phone, “I am going to bed.” she tells Nicky.  
“Goodnight Nile” says Nicky, Joe mumbles something and twitches an arm.


	4. Day four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nile is finding her place.  
> Joe has a bad day.  
> Nicky is still angry.  
> Booker is mentioned.

Day four:

When Nile wakes it is to a made bed opposite her as if the guys had never been to sleep. Nile knows they have as they both woke when she gasped awake from a dream of Quynh, after some soft sleepy reassurances from both men they were asleep before her breath returned to normal. There are clean clothes by her feet and she can hear something melodic in the next room. Nile heads to shower, Joe and Nicky are in the kitchen singing along to a piece of classical music on the radio, all da-da-de and bom-bom as they do different instruments, she does not know the work but she could only name you ten pieces, it never felt like her music. When she is done showering, feeling better in herself, cleaned of yesterday's emotional mess, more so than any dirt, she realizes she did not bring any clean clothes in with her. Not wanting to put on yesterday's clothes she walks out in just her towel. Joe has moved from the kitchen and is packing, he has a stack of clothes and Nile adds her’s from the bathroom.  
“Grazie” Joe thanks her and then clocks what she is wearing, slowly backing away, Nile smiles following him. Joe heads to Nicky and Nile follows into the kitchen, Joe hides behind Nicky who is laughing, as Joe uses him to shield himself from Nile.  
Andy comes out of her bedroom at the noise, Joe runs to hide behind her. Nile walks over to them, lunging for Joe, making him tumble backward to the floor and goes to get dressed. She can hear them talking as she does.  
“Joe, get up”  
“Yes, Boss.”  
“You know she is going to be wearing less at the bathhouse.”  
“Yes Boss.”  
“Nicky talk some sense in your Husband.”  
“They are just having fun Boss. Coffee?”   
When Nile joins them her coffee is waiting next to what looks like a bowl of overnight oats. Nicky is pouring Andy a second cup of coffee, half her bowl is gone, two empty bowls sit in the sink, along with some pans. Joe is packing things from the bathroom.   
“When you have finished eating, we should be ready to go.” Joe informs her, placing the holdall with the other bags. Joe starts to do the washing up.  
“No rush” says Andy “They just like being ready to go. Nicky likes having a plan”  
Nicky ducks his head and Joe shoots Andy a look over his shoulder, kicking a leg back to touch Nicky’s, Nile can see his slight lean into it.   
“I am ready to go after I have eaten.” Nile agrees.   
Nicky smiles at her as he walks away. He comes out of Andy's bedroom with the bed sheets, dumping them in the washing machine, doing the same with the ones from their bedroom. When the machine is running he gets the vacuum cleaner out for the floors. Joe is wiping down the fridge and cupboards.   
“Is this a covering tracks thing or just them?” Nile whispers to Andy, who has made no move to help but does not act like their behavior is out of place.  
“Booker used to say they would make good wives.” Andy does not lower her voice.  
“Booker sounds like an ass.”  
Andy snots.  
“I think Booker was in a lot of pain and he would say things so we would hurt him.” Nicky has joined them at the counter, vacuuming finished.   
Joe makes an angry, negative noise “He is an ass. Stop trying to see the good in him”  
“Like self-harm?” Nile clarifies, ignoring Joe.  
“Maybe?” Nicky is sound unsure.  
“Self-harm is when you cut yourself, or get someone to hit, so you feel the pain physically to match who you feel inside, the emotional pain. It’s a mental health condition, you can get help for it. It’s common in people with depression and PTSD” Nicky looks unsure at the letters “PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, when a traumatic thing happens and you can not deal with it, war veterans can have it, nightmares, depression, drinking, drugs, self-destructive behavior, flash backs, dissociative episodes.”  
Andy has stilled sat next to Nile.  
“Yes, that sounds like Booker.” Nicky confirms, his voice tight.  
“He is still an ass.” Joe has not turned from the sink, his voice is thick with something, he is shaking. Nicky is up and on him, pulling him away from the kitchen before Nile can comprehend what she is seeing. Nile looks to Andy who is pale. “We didn't know. That he was so damaged. Booker cut himself, got into fights, it stopped in the last 50 years, we thought he was done, with that part of his grieving.” She pauses, swallowing “instead he wanted to die forever.” She looks to the door, “What else did I not see.”  
Nile has nothing to say, she is as lost as they are.

Nile has finished her breakfast and the washing up by the time Nicky and Joe come out of the bedroom. Nicky leading the way, Joe almost hiding behind him.   
“Ready to go?” Nile asks at a loss at what else to do.  
Nicky nods.  
“I will load the car.” Nile goes to take the bags.   
“The two rucksacks on the left have the pic-nic in.” Nicky tells her, she takes the other bags for the boot.  
Nile is heading back up the stairs when she meets others. Joe still does not look any better as he brings up the rear, but he is not hiding anymore. Nicky has bin bags with him, to go in the waste bin by the side of the apartment building, as well as the rucksacks.  
They are quite in the car as Nile pulls in to get petrol. When she gets back in the car after paying, someone has stuck Nicky's carefully written list of roads to the dashboard, where she and Andy can both easily read it. Joe has a notebook open and is scribbling away. Nile can not tell if he is writing or drawing. Nile drives in silence for a few miles, before she asks if she can put the radio on. No-one objects and she tries to find a radio station she likes.  
“I thought Shotgun gets to pick the station?” Andy asks after she has been around the channels once.  
“I don’t think they play your music Boss.” Nicky says.  
“Shut up, Nicky, my music is great.”  
“It is noise.”  
“Joe, tell Nicky my music is good.”  
“Boss, I like my music to tell a story, you like fast, loud beats, Nicky likes melody. They are all good.” Joe is not getting drawn into this fight again.  
“You and Nicky were singing along to something this morning.” Nile points out.  
“There is overlap between what I like and what Nicky or Andy likes.”  
Andy settles on a dance music station. No-one complains.

They get past Mezt before Andy has to find a new station. Two songs have got a reaction out of Nicky and Joe. One had Nicky conducting in his seat and Joe humming along, it does sound like a classical piece to Nile. Andy tells her the song is ‘Children’ By Robert Miles, they are shocked that she does not know it, when it was a global hit “number one in 32 countries at the same time.” Nicky exclaims.  
“Yes, but that's just like Europe, only.” Nile tells him.  
Andy snorts, so Nile takes that as a win. It turns out the song is older than her, which makes both men sulk. Until this strange song comes on, dance music with an accordion, with singing in no language Nile can guess at and Nicky and Joe start dancing like they are in a club, in-time, little-fish-big-fish-cardboard-boxing and Andy is laughing at them. Two songs later when they have all calmed down, Joe tells her it’s called’ Laven Polka’, a dance version of of Finish folk song, very popular in clubs in Europe. Europe Nile decides is very strange.   
The new station has a lot of French rap, which Nile did not realize was a thing. Joe stops scribbling in his notebook to listen to a few songs every now and then, but Nile can not work out what he picks up on.   
When the radio needs tuning again Nike turns it off, she wants to talk.  
"What were you reading out loud, yesterday, Joe?" That should be a safe topic, everyone else seemed happy with his choice of book.  
"Guards, Guards, by Terry Prattchett. It's part of the Discworld series." Joe replied.  
"Read it before?"   
"No not that one, there are 30 odd books."  
"He is Joe's favorite modern author." Nicky adds.  
"When you say modern" Nile asks.  
"I believe he is still alive." Joe tells her.  
"Okay modern then." Nike agrees. "Who is your favorite modern author, Nicky?"  
"Stross, in English"   
"Really? Not that Lukyaneko fellow." Joe asks.  
"That is Russian, not English, but I do like his books. Stross writes many different types of book, Rule 34 is the future of warfare”  
“Not this again.” Andy groans.  
“Nile, you are a modern person. Hypothetically, say China had two Esports teams compete to take down the electronic infrastructure of a fake country as a game, but it was in fact a real country. Would that be an act of war?” Nicky sounds quite passionate about this.  
“It’s just computers” Andy put in.  
“It’s water, power, food, government, traffic, planes, phones, TV radio, banks, hospitals, everything.” Nicky points out.  
“Why are they taking out this country?” Nile asks.  
“In the book it is a test, but after that China could just roll in and take over. They could even go in on humanitarian grounds.”   
“It sounds like a hostile act, terrorism for sure.” Nile thinks about the stories about the black out in New York, her bunk mate told. About the storms that hit Chicago every few winters that took everything out. She shivers.  
“You think he has a point?” Andy snaps at her.  
“Well, yes. It’s something to think about. Can I read the book before we talk about it some more.”  
“Of course Nile, I will get you a English copy.” Nicky says, “Booker destroyed the last copy.”  
“Why?” Nile asks “Other than he is an ass, I mean.”  
While Nicky is taking a breath to order his words, Joe buts in “Booker likes books about people, proper literature novels. Nicky likes his science fiction, I like fantasy. Andy just likes other people to read aloud for her. Booker claims we read trash.”  
“To be fair, some of it is trash.” Nicky is smiling.  
“Good entertaining escapist trash.” Joe points out. “We very rarely agreed on what is a good book.”  
“Who do you like to read, Nile?”  
“I don’t read much.” Nile starts her eyes flicking to the rear view mirror to see what the reaction is, the guys don’t look too shocked, so she offers “I read all the Harry Potters.”   
Andy huffs but says nothing. “So have we.” Nicky gestures between himself and Joe, looking at her in the mirror.  
“I guess it's something to start doing” Nile does not sound sure.  
“I am sure the Boys will give you a list to read.” Andy tells her.  
“Did you like the Harry Potters?” Nicky tentatively asks  
“Well yeah, didn’t everyone.”  
“What did you like?”  
“No. No. We are not doing book club, Nicky. Joe, tell Nicky I am too injured to do book club.” Andy is trying to turn around in her seat.  
“I don’t think your injury works like that, Boss.” Nicky tells her.  
“Nicky, we are not doing book club in the car, Nile needs to concentrate on driving. Boss, turn back round you will make your injury worse. Please.” Joe tells both of them.  
Andy settles back in her seat. Nicky shoots Joe a look, that has Joe taking his hand and kissing his fingers, Nile can hear the Italian, start up from Joe. Andy has a smile on her face as she turns the radio back on.

Colombiere park is easy to find from the toll roads they have been on, paid for in cash, but Andy and Nicky had not been bothered by the process. The sheer numbers of cars and GRDP should keep them safe, plus the car is under a fake name in a different country and they will sell it on once they have gotten to Valencia. Nile parks the car in free space at the parking lot by the park, after four hours of driving she is happy to have a break to stretch her legs and she is feeling kind of hungry. They walk the whole length of park down the central boulevard, it’s tree lined and cool and shaded in the midday sun. At the far end is a play park and Nile is struck by the number of women in headscarves, their coloring similar to Joes, she thinks she might be getting Nicky’s comment about worldview shifting. She must make a sound as Nicky turns to her. “Yes Nile.”  
“It. The Women. I mean” Nile stops and starts, they are all looking at her now. Nicky smiles at her in encouragement. Nile relaxes, she only making it worse trying not to sound stupid. “I did not think France would have so many Muslim people. You think of France as this white Christian country.”  
“Most have Algerian, Tunisian or Moroccan ancestry. France used to own Algeria, it’s still little French now. In the 1970’s and 80’s many north Africans settled in France, even after Algeria gained independence, some people felt that they were French and they should live in France.”  
“Nicky, Goats, Come see.” Joe shouts from where he has wandered off, stopping Nicky's rant. Nicky wanders off after him and the women follow more slowly.  
“Nicky and Booker could go five rounds on Algeria and France. They came to blows on two occasions. Before and after the Algerian war. Booker could not understand how Nicky could serve with French officers in the first and second world wars and shoot them less then ten years later.”  
“Sorry, I didn’t know.”  
Andy huffs and rubs Nile’s hair.  
“Stop it, you’ll mess it up.”  
There are a number of other animals as well as goats, Llamas, deer and donkeys plus peacocks and chickens. It’s a little odd to Nile but Joe and Nicky seem happy going from enclosure to enclosure. Andy gives them a good twenty minutes before reminding them she is hungry and wants lunch. They wander as a group through the trees, until Nicky seems to find an agreeable spot to stop. Two travel blankets go down, then a pillow each to sit on. Joe is putting down a lot of tinfoil and some packets. Nicky issues wet wipes to everyone and then drinks, the bottles of water from before now with fruit juice in. Joe gives everyone a ‘plate’, it's just a square of tin foil, but it works. Then he opens the tin foil ‘containers’, there are slices of watermelon, a salad of potatoes, spinach, rocket, onion and carrot, Boiled eggs bread, cheese, dates and grapes.  
“I did not use Dijon mustard in the dressing.” Nicky tells Nile with a smile as he points to the salad.   
Nile laughs “I am sure it’s fine. We won’t tell the locals.”

A small boy runs up to Joe after they have finished the salad and eggs, moving on to bread and cheese, picking at the grapes.  
“Are you having a pic-nic?” the boy asks Joe in Arabic, “I am having a pic-nic”  
*Yes. we are.” Joe replies.  
“Yusuf, don’t talk to strangers” the child's mother scolds the boy, coming up behind him.  
“Yes, Yusuf don’t talk to strangers” Nicky joins in the conversation, looking at Joe.  
Little Yusuf stares at Nicky in surprise.  
“But if I do not speak to people you admonish me for not speaking to our guests.” Joe points out to Nicky, waving his hands at the boy and his mother.  
“Is your name Yusuf too.” Little Yusuf turns to Joe. “I am Yusuf.” He points to himself.  
“Pleased to meet you, Yusuf. I am Yusuf” Joe holds out his hand to shake, little Yusuf high-fives him. “What’s your name?” Little Yusuf asks Nicky.  
“Nikolas” Says Nicky.  
Little Yusuf looks confused. “But that’s a French name. You speak Arabic”  
Little Yusuf mother gets that look mothers have when their child says something wildly inappropriate, embarrassment, horror and amusement in equal doses. Joe has a huge grin on his face. Andy is looking at Nicky to see how he gets out of this one.  
“It’s German” says Nicky, nodding.  
“Oh” Little Yusuf seems happy with this explanation. Andy shakes her head smiling.   
“What’s going on?” Nile asks, “I heard Yusuf like 20 times.” Both Yusuf's look at her at the mention of their name, with the same look on their faces. Andy starts laughing.  
“The boy is also called Yusuf, both of them have been told off for talking to strangers, I have explained that I am German so that’s why i speak Arabic.” Nicky tells her, as Joe offers the Mother and child dates and watermelon pieces. Little Yusuf takes both with a thank you, the mother declines and leads her son away, with a smile. 

The walk back to the car shortly after, the park is starting to fill up with families. A quick stop at the toilets and they are off again. Joe went back to scribbling in his notebook. Andy tells Nile about one or two of the vineyards they pass signs for. Then on to other tales from around this part of France. Some stories have just her and Booker in, others Joe and Nicky too. Nicky adds bits now and again. Most of the stories are happy or fun, building a sense of friendship and family in the group, for Nile. Joe does and does not join in, smiling at times and encouraging Nicky to speak, he does not speak himself. The most Nile gets out of him is a nod of confirmation that which of he or Booker does the washing up depends if Paris Saint-Germain has won or lost the last foot match, they have been Booker’s team since 1904 when they were just Saint-Germain. The drive goes quickly, it seems much faster than four hours to Nile as she pulls up at the Inn for the night.

“You know, think we have been here before.” Joe looks at the Inn when they get out of the car, coming out of his mood.  
“No, you are think of Sauteyars.” Andy tells him, “1782”   
“No we had Booker with us.”  
“Are you thinking of Montrex? That’s not even France.”  
“With the girl in the green dress and the three barrels of wine for knife throwing.” Joe adds.  
“Bergerac” Andy and Nicky say together.  
“Oh yeah. She was a very petty girl Boss. Booker was most put out she picked you over him.”  
Andy snorts.   
“I won ten franks off him when she did not come back downstairs after finding out you were not a man.” Nicky adds.  
“She had been sat on me long enough to know that before we went upstairs.” Andy points out.  
“If Booker could not work it out, I was happy to take his money.” Nicky tells her.  
“He took enough of yours.” Andy agrees.  
“He never took more than I could give.” Nicky tells her.  
Nile stakes her head, think about the other stories she has heard today, she looks at Andy. “Ground rules; No knife throwing, no girls in any dresses or guys for that matter” turning to Joe “no starting a Inn fight or burning anything down” Then to Nicky “No encouraging them or making bets. We are normal people.”  
Joe drops on his knees, in front of her “Nile, my little river goddess, what have I done to hurt you so, that you punish me this way.”  
“This Joe, none of this.” Nile waves her hand at him. “Nicky stop laughing and make him get up.”  
“Joe, behave” Andy orders. Joe is up all his play acting stopped between one breath and the next, he and Nicky bump shoulders once they have empty the car, walking a head of the women.  
“That is so impressive.” Nile tells Andy.  
“With great power comes great responsibility.” Andy tells her. Nile laughs following behind.

They get booked in and look at the rooms, one has a double bed and not much else, the other two singles, both have an en suite. They all end up in the bigger room for space, putting all down the bags.  
“There is still light, want to go for a walk?” Nicky asks Joe.  
“Down to the lake?” Andy asks.  
“Then dinner?” asks Nile.  
Joe eyes flick between Andy and Nicky.   
“Wait is going for a walk a euphemism?” Nile checks.  
“What, no, it’s a walk.” Joe tells her.  
“It's just, Joe and I would go for a walk, Andy and Booker would stay behind.”  
“And before Booker.”  
“It depended on how much they had annoyed me.”  
“Boss?” Joe sounds upset.  
“It’s hard to see sometimes, the two of you.”  
“I will not apologize for my love.” Joe's voice has steel in it.  
“Nor I, Andy.” Nicky tells her.  
“I know and I don’t want you too. It’s just sucks.” Andy’s voice is thick.  
“Do you want a hug?”  
“Fuck off Joe” Andy snorts.  
“The lake it is.” Nile goes to open the door. 

Nicky and Joe walk ahead, as they stroll down to the lake. Things are fine until they make it onto the footpath on the other side of the lake. Then whatever Nick and Joe have been talking about has become a row, Nicky angry, face contorted but not shouting, Joe a little louder. Nile follows Andy as she runs toward them, both men fall silent as Nile comes to a stop.  
“What is going on.” Andy stares at both of them. Joe breaks first, “It’s Booker, Boss.”  
Nicky says something in Italian, then looking at Nile, “It changes nothing, Yusuf. Yes, Booker used your temper to hurt himself. Yes, he was hurting, is hurting now still more so because he is alone. Yes, he pushed your buttons. He made some of those buttons Yusuf. He knew what he was doing. Yes, in the beginning I got you so angry you'd hit me and I wanted you to, but it was different. I want you to hit me to prove that you were the savage I had been taught to expect. Once you worked that out you stopped. Yes, the first few years we were together I was in an unhealthy place but not for the same reasons as Booker and I chose to move on to get better, to heal. Booker has not done that, no he has chosen to get drunk, to antagonize you, over and over, changing insults and comments until you snap. Booker chose not to ask for help, chose to make a deal with Merrick, chose to call the soldiers on us. He wanted to leave Nile all alone in the world. He shot Andy. Booker Made His Choices.” Nicky slams his fist down on an imaginary table with each of the last few words. “Yes he is depressed. Yes he had this PTSD. But he could still function and make choices and he chose to betray us.”  
“Nicolo, if I had listened to your theory.”  
“No, Yusuf, Booker would only do something more extreme to get a response, something we as a group could not have survived.”  
“I just wish…” Joe trails off, running his hand through his hair.  
“As do I, He used you, I can not forgive him for doing this to you.” Nicky tears his eyes off Joe, to look at Andy and Nile. “I know you two want to bring Booker back into the fold. I know he will be back before his time is up. I will not stop you going to see him. But I will have no part of it. Not so soon.”  
“Nicky.” Andy starts.  
“No Andromache I will walk,” Joe inhales sharply, Nicky keeps looking at Andy. “I can not deal with him. I need time. Nothing about Booker has changed for me.”  
“Nicolo, per favore.” Joe reaches for Nicky with a sob. Nicky pulls Joe close, whispering into his hair.   
“Nicky, I am mad at him too. I need you, Joe and Nile settled before I deal with him.” Andy puts her hand on his shoulder as she speaks, bringing it around to his neck.   
“Grazie”  
Andy rests her forehead against Nicky's, bringing her other hand into Joe's hair, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Joe.”  
Andy steps back after a moment. “Nile you good.” Andy asks, “Need a hug, or whatever.”  
“Nope, I’m good.”  
“Good, let's leave the men to be overly emotional.”  
“Thanks Boss” Joe is muffled by Nicky's chest.  
Andy and Nile continue along the path around the lake, Nile looks back every dozen steps, it takes less than 20 times for the guys to follow. By the time they have reached the trees they are altogether.  
“There are a whole bunch of studies that show walking through trees improves your mood, that it can be beneficial to your metal health. Like Japan and Finland or Sweden prescribe it for depression.” Nile tells them after a few minutes.  
“How long do you have to walk for?” Nicky asks.  
“Like 10 minutes to half an hour minimum.” Nile says.  
“Then why were we not the happiest people on the planet when you had us walk to” Joe ways his hand, trying to find a place “anywhere.”   
“It was not always forest.” Andy tells him.  
“No the grasslands that went on forever.” Joe moans.  
“You're not in grasslands now so that's not true.”  
“No, the jungles, the swamps”  
“That's just different types of tree, Joe” Andy cuts in.   
“Mountains, there are far too many mountains.”   
Joe is smiling as Andy shoves him. “You are such a city boy”  
“I was happy, walking.” Nicky adds.  
“You are a city boy too,” Andy tells him.  
“Never said I was not.”  
“Plus you were only happy as Joe had no-one to distract him so you could have him all to yourself.” Andy continues.  
“I will admit it was a factor, but you and Quyhn were the same.”  
“I think the noise kept the wolves away.” Joe smirks.  
Andy snorts, “That was Quyhn’s line.”  
“It’s a good line.” Joe claims.  
“I am not going camping with you three.” Nile tells them.  
“Inns and hotels are much better.” Andy tells her. “No waking up to the rain.”  
“Or snow or mist or fog” Joe continues.  
“Hail, hail is the worst.” Nicky joins in. “this one time the hail was the size of peaches, we all had broken bones, Joe's skull was smashed.” He shivers. “I do not like hail.”  
Joe puts his arm around Nicky’s shoulders, “But here I am, and I am fine.”  
“A guy once told me what fine stood for.” Nile tells Joe.   
“Fabulously good looking, intelligent, nimble footed, entertaining?” Joe suggests, coming away from Nicky to indicate around himself, and do a little dance Nicky laughing at him as he bumps into each other.  
”Fucked-up, insecure, nervous, emotional.” Nile tells him.  
“I like my one better.”  
“They both fit.” Andy says.  
“So in Nile’s world being not-fine is a good thing?” Nicky asks.  
“English is annoying me now, no English until we get to the inn.” Andy orders in Russian.  
“How am I meant to tell Nile that?” Nicky asks,switching to Russia.  
“Fine just that.”  
“Andy says no English until we get to the inn.” Nicky tells Nile.  
“I understand.” Nile Spanish is rusty and out of practice but she can play this game.  
“Good” Nicky encourages her.  
“What’s that?” Joe points to a tree  
“A tree.”  
Joe smiles and points to a flower, “what’s that?”  
So it continues Joe pointing at stuff and Nile saying and learning the Spanish, with Nicky, telling her the names of the types of plant and tree and Andy joining in with food or not-food, mostly to get a laugh. 

Dinner is eaten in the Inn and while it is very good, Nile already misses Nicky's cooking. When she tells him that, he goes red and hides his face.  
“You will tell us if you need something, Nile” Joe asks as they eat dessert.  
“Only, if you three do the same.” Nile is mostly looking at Nicky.  
“Agreed.” says Joe following her gaze.  
“Si” Nicky's answer is offhanded, Nile keeps looking at him, he sighs, “I will tell you," Nile doe not even blink "I will try to tell you and Andy," Nicky stops, it looks like Nile's not even breathing, "I will do better at talking about what's going on in my mind to people who are not Joe.” Nile nods approval at the last line.  
“You don’t talk to Joe, you just look at him and hope he guesses right.” Andy points out.  
“It is the language of my love.” Joe defends him. Nicky fist bumps him.  
“See!”  
“Andy”  
Andy makes a frustrated sound. “Yes Nile, I will tell you if I need something. Right now I need more wine and someone to lose at cards to me.”  
“The wine I can do.” Nile likes not being card for alcohol, “The cards are on your own.”  
“That is fighting talk.”  
The move to the bar, Nile teaching them a card game she played on base. Joe and Nicky are fast learners and competitive, Andy is ruthless, Nile only wins the first hand before it passes back and forth between Joe and Nicky, she thinks they are both counting cards. It would explain some of the looks and moves.

When Nile yawns a third time, Nicky suggests bed for everyone. Joe and Nicky seem reluctant to take the double bed in the smaller room. Andy seems restless as Nile climbs into bed. Nile is not surprised at the knock on the door less than twenty minutes after they have split. Andy lets Joe and Nicky carrying the bedding from the other room. Nile tries to get up but Nicky shushes her with a soft “We need to be together.” that makes both her and Andy snort. Sleep pulls Nile under, in great undulations, she rises to see them all talking on the other bed, to Andy and Nicky in the bathroom checking Andy's wound, to Joe taking the mattress off the other bed and putting it in a corner, to Andy adding spare blankets and pillows to the mound of bedding she is building in the other corner. Then sleep has her and she is down.


	5. Day five

Day Five.

Nile wakes first, her dreams untroubled, Quyhn does not appear every night, Joe is still curled around Nicky, on the mattress they put in the corner. Andy in the pile of blankets and pillows in the other corner. She checks her watch, it is not even six am, but Nile thinks, if she is awake now and it looks like she has time this morning she will redo her hair. Nile gets up as silently as she can, gathering her stuff from the bags, as she is looking for the shampoo and conditioner that Joe got her when Nicky wakes.  
“Nile?”  
“I am going to the other room, I am going to take out my twists to wash my hair.”  
“Do you want someone to sit watch?” Nicky asks, sleepy, Joe's arm tightening on his chest as Nicky moves to sit up.  
“Would you feel better if I did?” Nile is not worried about being alone, but if she does not have to be, if one of them wants her to have company then she is not going to say no.  
“Yes.” Andy tells her as Nicky hesitates, “Go with her Nicky.” Joe grumbles as Nicky gets up. Andy climbs out of her sleeping spot and into Nile's bed, she waves at the pile bedding “Take some of that back to the room.”  
Nicky picks-up apart the bedding pile, folding and sorting as he goes until he just has a neat bundle to take as he follows Nile out the room.  
“Andy is just feeling paranoid.” Nicky tells her when they get to the other room.  
“And you and Joe last night?”  
“We needed to be together, we.” Nicky pauses, taking the time to put the bedding bundle on the striped mattress.”Joe and I felt exposed in here, unable to settle.” he looks troubled “Joe can explain better.”.  
“I was kind of expecting it. After the lake. You all seemed unsettled last night . You all talked? I remember talking.” Nile sits on the bed to undo a braid.  
“We did. We did not mean to exclude you.”  
“No I get it. You lot have got stuff to get though that you should not have to explain to me, it’s hard enough to talk about these things without stopping every five minutes to fill me in on something or make sure you are talking in English.”  
“I do not want you to feel separate from the three of us. That you are not a part of the group. I don’t want to make the same mistakes with you we made with Booker.”  
“No, you get to make new ones with me.” Nile’s joke falls flat.  
Nicky’s “I don’t want to get it wrong with you”. is heartfelt.  
“I know and I will tell you if I feel left out or upset about anything.” Nile takes Nicky's hands.  
“Promise?” Nicky puts a little pressure on Nile's fingers.  
“Promise.” she loops their pinky finger together, “pink swear and everything.”  
Nicky smiles. “Okay.”  
“Do you want to shower first, while I undo this? I think I bought stuff for you” Nile points to the rucksack she had ended up filling, while Nicky sorted bedding.  
“Yes, okay.” Nicky nods, planning, he reaches around behind him to the small of his back, puts a knife he takes from his waistband on the bed by Nile and moves to fish in the rucksack, for his clothes and shower gel. Nile looks at the knife, she is not going to think about how it’s been sandwiched between Joe and Nicky all night, making it warm to her touch. It’s the one that Nicky used to destroy the toy crocodile, the hilt has some dents on it, the scabbard designed to fit belt loops. It is oddly intimate and sweet that he has given her his knife to protect herself with. It is also jarring that she finds such a thing cute not creepy.  
“I know you're more used to guns but a weapon is a weapon.” Nicky tells her, when he see her unsure touch on the knife, “I will be quick”  
“Take your time.” Nile tells him, taking a breath, grasping the knife and picking it up. Nile moves to sit full on the bed, resting against the bundle, getting herself comfortable. Nicky nods, heading into the bedroom, he does not close the door all the way,  
Nile has undone her hair by the time Nicky comes out the bathroom fully dressed.  
“Right my turn.” Nile takes the rucksack into the bathroom with her.  
Nile comes out of the bathroom, dressed with her hair in bunches in two rows down the middle of her head, like a Mohawk, daring Nicky to say something. Nicky is sat on the made bed, he does not even raise an eyebrow, meeting her stare, then smiles. He gets off the bed and places his discarded clothes in the rucksack along with the shower gel “Got everything?” he asks looking around the room and poking his head into the bathroom.  
“Yes.”  
“Then let's rejoin the others.” Nicky gets the door.  
The other room is empty of people when they enter, the beds are both made, everything has been tiedy away, the bags all packed. Nile checks to see if the bins are empty, there are, she spots the plastic bag with the rest of their gear. A note on one of the beds reads “gone for breakfast.”  
As the head down stairs Nile hums something with a repetitive pattern, then says “Do you want to spar with me? Hand to hand stuff, like not now but like next week.”  
Nicky does his please explain face, Nile is learning his looks.  
“You have to practice, right and I need the practice and to learn cool new moves and that. You can’t spar with Andy. She is injured and can get injured, so you would be pulling blows. You can’t spar with Joe, not at the moment, he's going to be conflicted about hitting you. The same goes for me with them. So that just leaves us to fight each other. Plus, Joe said you need to hit stuff but still be all incharge and that. The others can break us up if it gets too bad and I am new so I’ll heal”  
“Your reasoning is sound, I agree with most points, I think we can see how a session goes. I would like to see what place your training is at and where you have gaps.” Nicky tells her as they reach the table with the others. Nicky sits next to Andy, Nile across from her.  
“What have you two decided on?” Andy asks once they have ordered breakfast.  
“We are going to engage in hand to hand combat training.” Nicky informs Andy.  
“Next week? Joe asks.  
“Yes.”  
“We should do some weapons training, too.” Andy adds, the guys nod.  
“If we had some swords.” Joe says wistfully.  
“Nile, you will enjoy watching these to practice with swords, they are masters of the craft.”  
“No one enjoys watching us as much as you Boss.” Joe tells Andy, Nicky has one of these little smiles as he looks at Nile. “Many a time we stopped our practice to find Andy had taken Quynh a respectful distance from the campfire.”  
Andy smirks and pushes him, Nicky rocks with the force. Joe smiled at them. Nile works the sentence though her head, getting the euphemism the second time around.  
“That good?” Nile looks to Andy for confirmation.  
Andy’s “Yup.” is drawn out.  
“Okay then.” Nile shakes her head “I’ll take that as a warning.”  
Joe sighs “Given the trouble I had replacing my last sword, we should just make new ones.”  
“We?” Nicky’s tone is accusing.  
“I support you.”  
Andy snorts.  
“I do!” Joe pleads.  
“I have not been a smith since before Booker and I never made swords, there is art to them.”  
Nile remembers the ID card on Copley’s wall for a Nickolas Smith and the fact that a lot of surnames come from jobs people used to have like Smith and Miller. She wonders just how often these three have made jokes that only they could find funny. “There is an ID that says you were a Smith a lot more recently than 1812.” Nile tells him.  
Andy huffs a little laugh, Joe giggles and Nicky, she get a full smile off him so Nile is going to take that as winning breakfast.

When they all get in the car Nicky reaches forward to touch Nile’s arm, “Nile do you want to look at the volcanoes before we leave?”  
“You said they were older than Andy old.”  
“Yes they're definitely BA; Before Andy.” Joe chimes in, Nicky gives him a look, Joe winks at him.  
“Was that the ‘you’re not as funny as they think you are’ look or the ‘it’s a good job I love you’ look.” Nile asks Joe, as Nicky sits back into his seat.  
“It was ‘you are cute but shut up before we get into trouble’ look, you can tell by the winking.” Andy informs her, “They can do whole conversions with looks.”  
“I’ve noticed”  
“Quyhn used to do her own version of their conversions, the looks and the mess of five languages they used to speak to each other in. Booker used to do stories too.”  
“Bookers stories were mostly porn.” Joe points out. “I was always impressed with the stamina he thought we had.”  
“He had no grasp of anatomy, which he really should have, we have the same version of the human form as him.”  
“Just far more attractive.” Nicky smiles and ducks his head at Joe's words. Andy rolls are eyes.  
“So anyway, not a living volcano, with lava and that, so no I'm good to skip them.” Nile tells them as she pulls out of the parking lot.

Nile sees the sign for Avie du Viaduc de Millau just after the bridge comes into view the second time. When the second sign has the little viewpoint symbol on it, Nile makes the executive decision to pull over, Nicky keeps shifting in his seat to get a better look. She parks the car in a half full lot and they walk to the only building, some mix of visit center and services. Nicky and Joe racing ahead both excited, Andy pats Nile's shoulder. “You're doing good, Kid.”  
Nicky is reading the signs in the Visitors center with intent, Joe moving about him, Nile watches him press buttons and touch things. Nile follows along looking at the information and quickly over takes Nicky. Looping back around she sees Andy sat in the restaurant with cake, coffee and wine. Nile gets her own coffee and pastry. “They are going to be here a while?” Nile indicates to the guys still only half way round.  
“Yes.” Andy said. Then after a gulp of wine. “He would not have said anything if you had just driven across the bridge.”  
“Well we are in no rush.”  
“Means a lot to him that you stopped.”  
Nile ducks her head at the complement, eats her pastry. “What is the deal with Nicky and bridges?”  
“When Nicky was a child he wanted to be a stone mason, build magnificent buildings that last forever. Not a job for a noble born young man.” There is some distaste to Andy’s words but Nile can’t tell what part. “Not even a third son. So, when he learns mathematics and all that stuff after he and Joe get together,” Andy shakes her head. “Our little scholar Nicky, he is not going to use the knowledge to make churches or grand places.” Andy snots “Nicky when I met him was a punk, he wanted to burn down the church state, kill all the nobles, set the people free from serfdom.” Andy sighs, “He has seen what happens when you do that, enough revolutions and bloodshed to put pay to that talk. Still, Joe thought he was cute. But he was a little shit too. They could not walk down a street without starting a fight and they seemed to love it.” Andy gives a sad laugh “Quyhn loved it too, she thought they were fun, never backing down.” Andy swirls her wine lost in the past for a second. She takes another sip and looks at Nile “Then we crossed this river” Andy thinks for a second then waves her hand in dismissal “Southern central Asia, somewhere, two, three winters in and stopped in this village, it did not have a name it just was,we were soaked through, us, the packs, the horses, there was no good crossing point to this river and where it was not deep it was wide, we nearly lost a horse in the water, getting across. We were wet, cold and miserable, under superstition as none of us looked like the locals. Nicky gets talking with this guy at the meeting house where we are drying out. Joe is watching them and starts going on about now we are not going to be able to leave any time soon. But there is no sign of danger. Quyhn and I then think Nicky is going to sleep with this guy, is he going to want to stay for some guy and why is Joe so calm about this. I mean the guys not anything to look at. But Nicky comes back to Joe that night and every night,” Andy smiles “neither of them has ever strayed. The next day there is this whole different Nicky, the one you see now, just politely, quietly bossing everyone about. We stay a month, he gets this wood bridge built, a simple thing, wide and strong enough for a full cart to go across.” Andy finishes her wine. “See to Nicky, religious and grand buildings, they are not for the good of the people but bridges, they help people by letting them cross a river or a valley without risk, this saves lives, time and effort, livestock and goods. Plus if you stick a toil on it you can make money for the village.” Andy seems to stop. “The bridge was still there when we went back though seventy odd years years later. Village had grown, had a name that meant crossing point, the only safe crossing point for miles. He did good.”  
“I can’t imagine a antagonizing Nicky. He seems so quiet and calm, but I can see him doing rebellion through public works” Nile says shaking her head.  
“Something had happened, the boys were on the move, when we found them. Nicky was angry, then he was not.”  
“Just like that.”  
“Nicky is practical and kind hearted, he was not angry at these people, they had not wronged him, so yeah, just like that. Nicky knows a bridge can do a lot of good for a cut off community, it can help a lot of people for a long time. He repaid the kindness done to him. Bridges mean things to people.”  
“I guess I never thought about it like that but this place would not be here if it was just a bridge.” Nile finishes her coffee. “You see a lot of bridges in paintings, the older ones not modern art.”  
“You look at a lot of paintings.”  
“I was doing an Art history degree, my dissertation was on sculpture” Nile sounds proud and a little combative.  
“Joe is going to love that.”  
Nile looks over to the display, but the guys have gone.  
“They will be at the view point.” Andy tells her.  
“Joe had seen Nicky do that before, with the village. I mean there is more than one Nicky bridge?”  
“He is very good at the little round arch ones, with the key stone.” Nile nods her understanding. “There are a number in Central America, he and Joe have been popping over there shooting criminal overloads and building bridges for the last ten, fifteen years.”  
“Criminal overloads?”  
“Joe calls them that, Nicky calls them rude things.”  
“I am old enough to hear swear words.” Nile laughs.  
“Not these words, I think he called one a flea- ridden pox infected dog that had shoes forever being thrown at him. I think even Joe got confused at that.”  
“Okay.” Nile is still giggling.  
“Nicky has never got the hang of swearing.”

They walk up to the view point and sure enough, Joe and Nicky are there. Nicky talking animatedly to Joe as he sketches.  
“Don’t tell me the maths, but it's safe to cross?” Andy asks Nicky.  
“Yes, very safe.”  
“It looks like lace and spiders webs.”  
“Yes, it does look petty.” Nicky agrees.  
“Not what I meant.” Andy is smiling, this is an old conversation, she is going to put her trust in Nicky’s maths and engineering but she is going to make him work for it.  
“The silk spiders make their webs from is stronger than steel.” Nicky tells her.  
“Whatever you say Nicky.” She pats his hand.  
“Nile, tell her, I am not making this up.” Nicky leans around Andy to look at Nile.  
“It’s like your Jonah and the whale story. Good but it didn't happen.” Andy steps back so Nicky has a clear line of sight.  
“Nile” Nicky pleads.  
“Boss, you remember when he spent three months just reading all those papers out aloud to us about chemicals and drugs and light? All the time. We had to go to Ethiopia just to shut him up” Joe looks up from his sketch.  
“The Italians were invading!” Andy says.  
“That had no bearing on your decision.” Joe jabs his pencil at her direction.  
“They were very interesting pieces of research.” Nicky tries to pout. “All these discoveries in the few short years we had been China and then every war on the way back to Europe.”  
Joe puts his arm around Nicky, “Yes, my love, very interesting to you and I will never grow weary of your joy, the way you light up with wonder at such things. But Andy still thinks magic makes rainbows work and you need woad to make things blue.” Nicky smiles as he leans his head on to Joe, arm going around Joe waist.  
“I can still hurt you Joe.” Andy threatens halfheartedly, her gaze over them is too soft.  
“I know Boss.” Says Joe, placing a kiss in Nicky hair.  
There is something about the tone of one of the other visitors behind Nile that makes her turn, she did not understand what they said but how it was said. Nile scans the area for a threat, not seeing anything that flags her attention she looks back to her group, Andy has zeroed in on a middle aged man with two teen boys, the man is slowly going red under her stare. Nicky is moving his empty hand out from under his jacket, away from the knife.  
“He is not worth it Boss.” Joe turns his head away from the man to Andy.  
“The younger boy was checking Joe out earlier.” Nicky relaxes into Joe with a wiggle of his head.  
“Why would the boy look at me when you are to be found.” Joe teases him  
“True” Nicky teases back, “I am the better looking.”  
“Yes, you are.” Joe agrees with another kiss to the top of Nicky's head.  
“There was a time when you would have fought him.” Andy points out.  
“There was a time when this was enough to have us killed, Andy, times change.” Nicky waves his free hand between him and Joe. “He is in the wrong, attacking him would not be a defense, the crowd will be on our side not his if he tried anything. Also, everyone has smart phones and Copley is trying to get us off the internet.”  
“Okay, just hate that people say anything about you two.”  
“They are all children, Boss. Their arguments are infantile.”  
“My incurable romantic.” Nicky lifts his head to kiss Joe. Joe follows Nicky as he pulls away, breaking the embrace. “Happy to continue on Nile?”  
“Sure Nicky, lets go.”

Nile drives slowly over the bridge, as does everyone else, the view is amazing. She speeds up on the other side. Andy turns the radio down once the bridge is out of sight. “Joe, did you know Nile recognized my Rodin.”  
“I don’t think your Rodin looks like you.”  
“Not that it is me. that it’s a Rodin”  
“Wait it’s you?”  
“Rodin claimed it was Andy, but I never seen it either.” Joe tells her.  
“He made a statue of you, Andy.” Nile shouts.  
“She was sleeping with him at the time.” Nicky adds.  
“He made you a statue Andy, Auguste Rodin, made you a statue and you keep it in a cave.”  
“It's technically a mine.”  
“Not helping Nicky!” Nile shouts.  
“I think art club, like book club might be something we don’t do in the car.” Joe says hopefully.  
Nile lets out a deep breath and brings the car's speed down slowly. “Better”  
“Yes, thank you Nile.”  
“Film club.” Nicky says after ten minutes of everyone pointedly not saying anything. “Can we do film club in the car?” He looks at all of them.  
“We can try,” Nile agrees. “what's the best movie you have seen in the last ten years. No wait, what's the best Hollywood blockbuster you have seen since 2000?”  
“Inception” Nicky tells her.  
“Oh I loved that, I was chanting fall, fall, fall at the spinner at the end.”  
“I also wished for them to have a happy ending.” Nicky agrees.  
“Okay, Eames was flirting with Arthur, you know professional opinion and that.” Nile asks the guys.  
Joe sputters in laughter.  
“I could see you as a professional flirt, Joe. I bet it's a real job in Japan.” Andy teases.  
“Japan is strange Boss”  
Andy hums a positive sound, Nile is darkened in color, she forgot that even though they speak English it’s not the same as her English, it’s like old people English, really old peoples.  
“I meant as” Then Nile stops do Nicky and Joe think of themselves as gay men, do they use a different term.  
“You meant that as a gay man did I find it a realistic depiction of a homosexual flirtation between two male characters.”  
“Yes, that, No, wait you thought Arthur was flirting back?”  
“He did not stop Eames from flirting with him and Arthur while he was uncomfortable in some scenes it was not all, so that was probably due to other factors like who else is in the scene and the appropriateness of the location. Given the plot makes much use of Arthur's professionalism and military background you can hypothesize Arthur is far more closeted than Eames, but not in-fact heterosexual.”  
“Okay. You thought about this.”  
“You look for what you can see in films of yourself, you sometimes are rewarded, sometimes not.”  
“Yeah, I spent a lot of time looking for strong Black female leads, then just strong female leads.”  
“See, we can do film club.” Joe sounds proud.  
“What’s the one with the acid creature and the cat.” Andy says.  
“Alien” says Joe.  
“I think so, they are on a spaceship, Joe, the man has the baby creature come out of his chest at the dinner table.”  
“Yes, Boss, The movie is called Alien.”  
“Okay, that had a strong female lead.”  
The conversion jumps from movie to movie for most of the rest of the drive. It does move on to movies Nile never heard of in a mix of language. But they seem to think the historical movies are comedies and not get many of the comedies Nile has seen.  
The Pyrenees rise up in front of them, the road becomes the N20 and follows a river along a valley until they pass the source and over a pass to Andorra. Changing the conversation to the mountains they have been on, up and across. Nile recognizes some of the names and places, joining in with her experiences. Andorra when they get there is just set valleys in the middle of the Pyrenees. Nile tells them it’s like the Grand Canyon declaring independence, Nicky claims the Grand Canyon of the USA does not have as good skiing which Nile admits is true.

They pull into the hotel parking lot, Nile makes no move once they have stopped. Andy looks at Nicky as she climbs out stretching.  
“Nile?” Nicky's voice is soft as he leans forward.  
“Do we need two rooms? I booked two rooms again but I can just get the one and sneak the other two people in.”  
They look at each other, a conversation of glaces and shrugs. “We will take two rooms Nile, if only for breakfast tomorrow. If we can not be apart, then we can not.” Nicky tells her.  
“Okay, people remember we are Normal people.” Nile psyches herself as she gets out of the car.  
“I don’t think normal people have to be told they are normal.” Joe tells her.  
Andy snorts. “What time is yours and Joe's spa thing.”  
“Booked it for 7pm, it’s not even five now, so we could get a snack before.”  
“I saw a kebab shop, Nicky.”  
Andy groans.  
“Joe would you like a Kebab?”  
“Yes, please.”  
“Every time Nile, See this little routine, every time. We will get Joe kebab after not before.” Andy's voice raises at the end as she looks at Joe.  
“Yes, Boss.” Joe is smiling.  
Nile leads them up to the counter, booking-in in her best high school Spanish and hoping that covers her fumble with the name Nina Fowler. She gets through the process, hanging one of the key cards to Joe, before trying to ask for any packages, without knowing the word, but the receptionist understands, going back out to the office and coming back with an Amazon box. Nile thanks her, as do Nicky and Joe in far better Spanish.  
Their rooms are next to each other and identical. They all pile into the second room.  
“What’s in the box.” Joe asks once the doors closed.  
“Stuff.” Nile tells him.  
Nicky smiles.  
“What stuff?” Joe reaches for the box.  
Nile taps his hand away, “It’s not your fake name on the box.”  
“Nicky she is being mean to me.” Joe rubs his hand.  
“Poor Joe, want me to kiss it better.” Nicky is reaching for his hand.  
Andy sits on one of the beds, pulling Nile next to her, “Open it, then put me out of their suspense, then I send you children off to play and us grown ups can have adult time.”  
“You know adult time usually means sex.” Nile explains as she opens the box.  
“Never going to happen, no officence Nicky.”  
“Non taken Boss.”  
Nile routes around in the box, pulling something out putting it back and pulling something else out that she chucks at Joe. He catches the item. Hold it up for all to see a pair of blue swimming trunks.  
“Good choice Nile.” Nicky tells her.  
“Mine matches” She holds up a blue swimming costume.  
Nile hands the next item to Andy and palms something before putting the box on the floor.  
“We used to give a couple a blanket when they got together so here you go.” She shoves the packet at them. Nicky takes the packet opening it up, it’s a quilted blanket, a pattern in shades of blue on one side and blue stripes on the other.  
“Thank you Andy.” Nicky’s voice is rough with emotion.  
Joe pulls him into an embrace, “Thank you Andy.”  
Andy shrugs.  
Nile hands her little box to Joe, who looks puzzled. He opens the box, his arms around Nicky, who makes a small gasp when he sees what's inside. Joe takes one of the three banded rings out, puts it on Nicky’s middle finger, where it is a bit loose, so Joe puts it on his middle finger. Nicky Takes the other ring and puts it on Joe's right ring finger where it fits. Joe gives Nicky a little kiss. “Thank you Nile.” Joe says looking at Nicky who echoes Joe.  
“Right we are going down stairs to eat food. Nile will come and get you two in an hour.” Andy tells them, pulling Nile out of the room.

Joe and Nicky meet the women downstairs less than twenty minutes later.  
“Was hungry, Boss” Joe answered Andy’s unasked question.  
“Thank you both again” Nicky tells them, spinning his ring  
“No Problem.” Andy tells them.  
The four of them eat the bar sandwiches in silence, hungry and with a tension that has nothing to do with Joe and Nicky’s relationship.  
“Got yours outfits?” Andy asks as they leave the hotel bar.  
“Yes.” Joe, pats a pocket of his jacket, it rustles. “Nile's too.”  
As they walk outside Nile feels an unease build. “We don’t have to do this.”  
“The tension is why, we do have to do this.” Nicky tells her.  
“We get clingy” Joe points out. “can’t be apart.”  
“We do not relax, we are always on alert and the stress gets to you, even with us healing it still has effects.” Nicky takes his turn.  
“We get on each nerves,” Joe put his arm over her shoulder, warming to a theme, waving his hand in front of them, “and become short tempered, less observant, more nightmares, poor sleep.”  
“See things we should not.” Andy added, looking pointedly at Joe.  
“They did not go a respectful distance from the fire?” Nile asks.  
Andy snorts, “There is a reason they is a no sex in communal areas rule. The reason is the two of them.”  
“I am not ashamed of my Love and our passion.” Joe is smirking.  
“You should be ashamed of the noises.” Andy tells him.  
“I like the noises Joe makes, there is this..”  
“No Nicky, no. I do not want to know.” Nile stops him.  
“But you will.” Andy tells her.  
“I am fine with random sex sounds I just don’t need the visual to go with it or the knowledge of how you get that noise out of him.” Nile tells them all.  
Joe laughs, Nicky mutters something in Italian, it sounds grumpy.  
“Oh. I get it, Nicky is the exhibitionist not Joe.”  
“They are as bad as each other.” Andy points her finger at both men in turn, like a warning, “But it’s more like a lack of space and privacy.”  
“Privacy, it’s a new concept, for us, I mean.” Nicky informs her. “You will need to make clear your boundaries to us.”  
They are outside the spa now. “You two want to join us?” Nile asks.  
Nicky shakes his head. “We will meet you two here just after ten.”  
Joe catches Nicky's hand for a second and leads Nile inside, arm around her shoulder still.  
The staff inside are friendly and nice, they switch to English at her halting Spanish and Joe tells them, in his much better Spanish, that he is trying to improve her Spanish by immersion and making her do all the talking, but everyone is so nice and helpful and keeps switching to English for her. The woman at the counter laughs and apologizes in Spanish to Nile. While Nile is getting changed she wonders what she was so worried about the other day, the staff did not bat an eyelid at her when she came in. Joe meets her by the pool and the mess around in the water for a while, checking both the indoor and outdoor pools out, the view is impressive. Joe tries to talk to her about art in the bubble beds but Nile enjoys the bubbles and some sort of light show. The Sauna is hot and Nile swears her bones are warming up, Joe argues that saunas are the best thing to come out of Scandinavian, even better the IKEA. Joe makes her try the Haman, which is hot and wet, like the worst of a Chicago summer, making her a little homesick. Joe talks about all the jungles he has known and hated. They sit back in a jacuzzi outside, in the dark watching another light show. Nile feels calm, relaxed and ready for whatever they throw at her next.  
Nile tells Joe they as they leave, he seems energized too.  
“You enjoyed yourself my Love.” Nicky asks when they get to the street. Nile looks at Andy and Nicky, they seem relaxed too.  
“Yes and hungry again.”  
“Kebab?”  
“Please.”  
“You good Nile?”  
“Yes, Andy. What’s so great about kebabs?”  
“Somethings taste better from a shop.” Joe tells her.  
Nile looks at Nicky but he does not seem offended, “Somethings can not be cooked at home, they do not taste the same.”  
After they have gotten Kebabs Nicky leads them off away from the hotel to a roundabout past one of the ‘Lace and Spider web” bridges Nicky likes to a statue made by Slavador Dali. “It’s called ‘The nobility of time.” he tells her like he has brought her a present. In a way Nile guesses he has, she didn't know this was here and they did not have to bring her, she gets they are trying to be sweet to her indulging her interests, fitting her into the group. Nile crosses the road to the roundabout to get a better look, it’s all lit up for the night. After she is done looking they head back to the hotel, Joe and Nicky to one room, Andy and Nile to the other, sleep is easy and welcome.


	6. Day six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last leg of the road trip.  
> Joe remembers his time in an old castle,  
> Nile is on to their tricks and finding her place in the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long, it turns out I am not a very fast writer.

Day Six.

A groan from Nile’s right wakes her with a jolt,she is instantly awake reaching for something, before the sound of one of Andy snorts relaxes her. “Great, another one, try not to shoot your team before you wake up.”  
“Sorry, Andy.”  
“For good reflexes, don’t be.”  
“You made a noise, you good?”  
Andy huffs “Sore. Stiff, being mortal sucks.”  
“Feeling all your years.” Nile teases, sitting up for real now.  
“Brat, I can still beat you to a pulp.”  
“Yup, but half an hour later I am good to go and you are in a world of pain.”  
Andy laughs out loud, Nile stands up, stretching.  
“Now you're just showing off.” Andy waves at the kettle in the room. “Make me coffee and you can shower first.”  
Nile dutifully makes two cups of coffee, adding all the creamer to hers. She sits back on her bed to sip hers as she pulls hair bands out of her hair. Andy is moving stiffly but she does not seem to be in pain. They are both watching each other, waiting.  
Nile cracks first, “Does Nicky think you're healing properly?”  
“Yeah, he is pleased, but I already got a lecture about keeping everything clean and dry. He fusses.”  
“Yes, he does. but he can have a point.”  
Andy waves her hand dismissively. After a little bit, once most of Nile’s hair is loose “You need a hand with that.”  
“You offering?”  
“Nicky the one who cuts hair, Booker and Joe say he is good for a shave as well.”  
“I am good by myself, thanks. I’ll leave off anything complicated until I find a hairdresser.”  
Nile stands to go to the bathroom, Andy seems off to her, “You want more coffee?” Andy holds out her empty cup. As Nile makes another Andy a second cup, she thinks that there might have been something more to Andy’s comment and somehow she hurt Andy's feelings.  
“Nicky would need lessons before I let him anywhere near my hair, but if he knew what he was doing, then sure, no problem.” Nile tells Andy as she gives her the cup.  
Andy nods, “I’ll pass it on.” The air around her seems lighter, Nile thinks she must have given the correct answer, this time.  
Nile hears a knock at the door while she is in the shower and then Joe’s voice. So, she is not surprised when she sees Joe sat on her bed, wrapped in the bedspread Andy got the guys. Nicky is talking to Andy, who has her top pulled up. He is sticking a plaster over the wound, it’s shiny, waterproof Nile thinks.  
Andy turns away from Nicky, striding away, now the bathroom is free with a “Joe, you can have your Doctor back “ over her shoulder, Joe reaches out and envelopes Nicky in the bedspread, until both of them are just a blue lump.  
“Are you,” Nile asks the lump “a doctor?”  
“Physician, yes once but not a doctor in the modern sense” Nicky is a bit muffled and pulls his head free, “back when medicine was more about plants and balance then anatomy and chemistry.”  
Nile fishes around in the bags for a clean top, she is nearly out of underwear, they are going to have to do washing tonight. “You never wanted to keep up with it and learn modern doctoring?” Nile asks curiously, it seems like they are happy to be things other than soldiers and maybe she can do other jobs too, at some point or go to school or something, maybe.  
“No, vivisection and surgery are too much like what was done to us in labs and locked rooms over the years when we have been caught by people who get ideas when we do not die.”  
“Oh” Nile sits on Andy's bed, dividing her hair before plaiting it, she is going to try to do three rows.  
“I had an episode when I tried in the 19th century.” Nicky continues, Joe head just visible against the side of his neck, whispering words against his skin.  
“Episode?”  
“I could not breath, I did not know were I was, my hands burnt, my heart raced, I was dizzy, I lost time, it was all very unpleasant for something that did not kill me.”  
“A panic attack.” Nile tells him.  
“Pardon.”  
“You had a panic attack.”  
“The fact that it has a name does not make it any more pleasant or me wish to repeat such a thing.” Nicky sounds annoyed, his words all sharp and pointy, Nile can hear Joe whispering to him, now, the words soothing not romantic. “Sorry Nile, I am not angry with you just what happened.”  
“No problem, Nicky. You good.”  
Nicky smiles, “Very good, thank you.” Nile is not going to guess at the movement going on under the bedspread, it look’s PG-13 and she is leaving it at that.  
The guys stay like that until Andy comes out from the bathroom, when Nicky changes Andy’s plaster again for one that will let the wound breathe. 

Breakfast this morning is a buffet in the hotel basement. Nile loads her plate up with the hot food; scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns and bacon. Andy has gone for cake and pastries for breakfast, along with what looks like a cereal bowl of coffee. Nicky sits next to her looking judgmentally at her plate. “Don’t start, Nicky.”  
“I did not say anything.” Nicky is all innocent acting, but Nile heard him very clearly choose not to say anything, Nicky's body language is very loud.  
“I can hear you thinking, judging me.” Andy assessment of Nicky-ese, mattes Niles.  
“If you think that I am, then maybe it’s your conscience that is telling you, you have done something wrong.” Nicky tone is playful and light.  
“Why does my conscience sound like your voice?”  
“I do not know, it is your conscience and will not claim to know your mind. You are a great mystery to me.” Nicky gives her a half smile.  
“Damn right I am.” Andy heaves a sigh, “Nicky get me a bowl of yogurt and fruit.”  
“Get it yourself.” Andy glares at him, “With respect Boss.”  
Nile laughs. Andy zero’s in on her “Nile get me some yogurt and fruit.”  
“What he said” Nile points to Nicky with a smile.  
Joe arrives at the table with two plates putting the one with different breads and little bowls of honey and butter between him and Nicky, his plate has a lot of scrambled eggs and cheeses on it. “Joe get me some fruit and yogurt” Andy asks before he can sit down.  
“Sure thing Boss.” Joe walks back to the buffet, before Nicky can stop him.  
“You are a bad person, Andy.” Nicky's words have no heat.  
“No, Joe is a good person and you two are disrespectful to your elders.” Nicky laughs at her, his eyes tracking Joe.  
Joe comes back with three bowls, the one he gives Andy has plain yogurt and a helping of fruit salad on top, Nicky’s has muesli cereal in the bottom and some nuts in with the fruit. Joe has coco-pops mixed with strawberry yogurt, fruit salad, nuts, cornflakes, honey and the chocolate sauce from next to the pancakes. “I think my cake is healthier than that” Andy nudges Nicky.  
“My Love, you eat like a five year old.” Nicky sounds a little horrified.  
“No, I eat like a five year old wants to eat but his parents will not let him.” Joe states all matter of fact.  
“Can we get heart disease?” Nile asks, watching Joe eat his eggs and cheese.  
“He has not had a heart attack yet.” Nicky tells her, “But perhaps we should not tempt fate.”  
“Like you would let me get away with anything like this other than a buffet breakfast, my all.” Joe beams his full smile at Nicky, making the other man duck his head, blushing.  
Nile notices Andy’s fond smile at them, Andy schools her face when she catches Nile watching.  
Joe eats his yogurt bowl after he and Nicky have polished off all the bread and honey. Andy eats her too in between cakes and pastries. Nile goes back up to get pancakes, because she can.

In the car, Joe has his notebook open and his pen out before Nile has even started the car. Andy puts on a Spanish pop station, some of the songs are in English, some Nile remembers from the last time she was in the States. After the DJ does his bit and the adverts come on, Nile asks if she has translated the segway correctly. Nicky confirms she got most of it correct. Nile keeps up practicing her translation with each segment. The traffic is quite hard for Nile to do, but that’s mainly around place names. The weather has a lot of terms she has not come across before. She knows what the reporter says during the news but she does not understand the context of most of the reports, the people, places and events have no meaning to her. All in all, Nile finds it is a useful exercise and keeps her brain occupied.

Nile stops at a large out of town supermarket the other side of Zaragoza, she needs a break from driving and she is pretty sure Nicky bag of food, only has spices in it, so they were going to have to go shopping anyway.  
Andy opts to stay in the car, in hindsight Nile thinks she should have too, food shopping with the guys is an experience. If Joe drives the way he pushes a trolley then she is not letting him drive ever. Nicky has to hold the front to control it most of the time and if he does not Joe is off scooting down the aisles, feet off the floor, nearly smashing in to displays and people, once he over balances and gets the trolley on two wheels. Nicky does not act like this is unreasonable behavior, Nile has to bite her tongue to stop channeling her mother, surely Nile and her brother were never this bad.  
On entry to the supermarket Nile realizes even the fruit is different, far less pre-packaged and even the apples and bananas have a different appearance. Nicky teaches her how to use the scale for his selections of fruit and veg, bringing her little bags of this and that, taking away the priced up stuff and rounding up Joe every so often. Nicky does not even look at the sliced bread, except to get some pumpernickel, getting a freshly made loaf and some rolls, then some pastries. There is a salad bar where Nicky hands her a tub as he fills three others with different things, grabbing the trolley as Joe shoots pass, again, only telling off for trying to eat the food out of a tub before they have paid for it. There is also a hot food counter where Nicky gets different flavors of chicken and one whole roast one. Nicky tells her the whole one is for dinner, it will keep in the car. That is the only meat they buy. As they go around the supermarket it hits Nile more and more that it is not like the American ones Nile is used too, for a start all the brands are different, unfamiliar labels and colors, the lay out is deceptively familiar as the amount of each type of product differs, here there is only half an aisles of cereal, none of which Nile recognize at first glance. Nicky just gets a bag of oats. Nicky also gets a few cheeses out of the vast ranges of colors and types available and eggs, which while Nile had been told that in Europe the eggs are on shelves not in chillers but it still feels alien to see. They come to the jellies and spreads and Nicky asks if she wants peanut butter, she did not see that they had that on the shelf there, as she gave it the once over, as there is no childhood staples jars of Skippy and the jars are all so small. Nicky puts both smooth and nutty in the trolley, Joe is putting Nutella and another spread that looks like it’s called biscuit, this is the first thing she has seen him put in the trolley. In goes a jar of honey and Nicky asks her about preserves, then marmellata, before waving his hands at the jellies. Nile tells him she calls them jellies and Nicky nods, asking again if she has a preference. Nile doesn't, she has no idea how any of this will taste and tell Nicky so. Nicky shrugs and puts six different jars in the trolley, then after a second's hesitation and another two, one is a very strong yellow. They gain a collection of tinned beans and soups, pasta, rice and noodles, stocks cubes and liquid herbs and tomato paste, flour and cornflour before Nicky asks Nile if has has preferences for juice, Nile picks orange, Nicky adds a couple others. Then a set of pic-nic cups and plates on sale and a cool bag. Finally Nicky directs Joe to a till. Once the shopping is bought and they go to get it packed, Joe, it seems, has a system and Nicky tells her not to interfere, “after all a merchant knows best how to pack his goods.” Nile can’t tell if this is a joke, a tease or a quote, and Joe’s wink in response does not help her.  
As they clear the doors Nicky asks “Nile do you feel up to driving onto the castle that was on the sign before we turned for the supermarket, I doubt it is far from here.”  
Nile does not respond.  
“Nile is everything alright?” Nicky has stopped both of them, just before the car, Joe waits, death grip on the trolley, Andy climbs out of the car.  
Nicky looks at him. “How long did it take to stop getting culture shock?”  
“Culture shock?” Nicky asks.  
Nile smiles, “Like I've been to the supermarket before but this one was too different and every time i looked for something familiar it was different again.” Nile sounds sulky not upset  
“Nile, I thought preserve was the right word not jelly, culture changes all round us all the time. We do not change, everything else does.” Nicky tries to reassure her.  
“Besides the world is a huge place, full of different peoples and areas, if everything was the same it would be far less wondrous.” Joe tells her as he unloads the trolley into the car.  
“I'm not sure that I trust you two not to break the woman.” Andy tells Joe and Nicky, Joe makes like he is offended and points at Nicky.  
“If she can’t handle shopping, what good is she in a fight.” Nicky tells Andy.  
Andy snorts.  
“I worry that you view food shopping like battle.” Nile tells them.  
“Are you eager to do it again?” Andy asks her.  
“Well no.”  
Andy makes a gesture as if to say point proven.  
“Nicky wants to drive on to the castle for lunch.” Nile tells Andy as she gets in the car.  
“Okay as long as he feeds me” Andy climbs back in as does Nicky, Joe has taken the trolley back, they see him shooting along through the windscreen, feet in the air balancing on the handlebar leaning over the trolley. “I need regular feeding Nicky, I’m mortal now, I will waist away.”  
“I have lunch for all of us, but here is a little something” Nicky passes a paper bag with one of the pastries in it to Andy. Andy hums in approval.  
“Do we need to eat?” Nile suddenly asks, because, do they?  
“Yes and no,” Nicky tells her, “we will starve and die, but it takes longer, a lot longer and we come back and can carry on for a while. It is unpleasant. Also we don’t need to drink as much but dehydration still affects us, we will die in the end but it takes two horrid weeks, not three short blessed days.” Nicky shudders, remembering something that happened in the past.  
“We all have ways we don’t like to die, the slow deaths are the worst, dehydration and starvation are the worst of the slow ways.” Andy tells her, reaching her hand back between the car seats for Nicky’s. “Knowing that death is coming and when you come back, nothing will have changed about our circumstances, you will just be able to carry on for a little longer, to die again.”  
Nile thinks that sounds horrible and she is not sure which of them is comforting the other.  
“I believe that for us,” Nicky voice is calm and clear, Andy leans back in her chair, Nicky’s thumb running across her knuckles “eating and drinking are as much for the soul than the body and that act of sharing food and drink is as important as consuming the food itself.” Andy snorts at him. “Food should be enjoyed and it should be shared, it enriches us, body and soul.”  
“This is why Nicky cooks.” Andy tells Nile. “He does not believe that food is fuel.”  
Joe joins them all big smiles, “I miss something?”  
“No.” Nicky pulls back. “Good to go?”  
Andy and Joe make affirmative noises, so Nile starts the car.

Nile drives on to Castillo De Cadrete, Nicky was right it’s not far, only 10 minutes away. It’s another 20 minutes walk up to the castle, which is in a ruined state. Nile walks with Andy as Joe and Nicky bring up the rear with the food, Nicky not letting the woman carry anything. Nile keeps hearing the word chivalrous from Joe as he moves around Nicky trying to get a piggy back. If he is not careful one of Nicky's shoves is going to send him down the path or over the edge, the path is uneven and hillside is steep. Nile waits until the path is a bit less arduous to ask Andy a question, Nicky had not gone down one aisle as the supermarket, had not asked her about a certain type of product so. “Andy.” Nile breathes out, she will not sound short of breath; she is a marine.  
“Yes Nile” Andy sounds like she has no problems breathing.  
“I have a question.”  
“Can’t the boys answer it.”  
Nile looks down the path at Joe and Nicky, Nicky has spotting something he is pointing out to Joe but she can’t see anything. “No not really.”  
“Okay.”  
“Do I need to get, you know, woman products?” Andy looks blank, “feminine hygiene stuff” Nile continues Andy face still blank, “you know for my monthly cycle.”  
Andy's face shows when Nile’s words click into place. “No”.  
“Just no.”  
“Maybe, you might be different, you are young and new.” Andy sighs, starts walking again. “Look I wasn't troubled before I died, Quyhn was not in all the time I knew her, but she lived more than one lifetime be the time we met and I never asked. I never had a child take,” Then in a small voice that Nile nearly misses, “Even when I wanted too.” Andy looks back at Nile, speaking at a normal volume, “Laycon and Booker never got a woman in the family way,” She looks back at Joe and Nicky. “And in spite of nine hundred years of trying Nicky has not managed to get Joe pregnant.”  
“I don’t think it works like that with Nicky and Joe.”  
“True some time Joe is sticking in Nicky, but not as often.”  
“I did not need to know that”  
“Why? They will happily tell you.”  
Nile knows this trick, trying to get her to change the subject, off to a different topic that is not so difficult to talk about. “So, we are infertile?” She gets back on track.  
“Yep. Well the rest of us are, but you are new and young, it might be different for you, as you are still with in your first life span. But Nicky has this theory that infertility is the cost of our immortality, Joe thinks it might be as we are as we were on the day we died, no new bits to us only repairing what was already there. I don’t know if they are both right or whatever, we just are.”  
“Hun” Nile stops walking. “I didn’t want children but to be told I can’t have them.”  
“You going to cry?” Andy is looking behind Nile, nervous.  
“No, I don’t know how I feel.” a part of Nile holds on to Andy comment that she is new and they don't know for sure, there is also some relief that she will not have to worry about any of that any more, most of her, just shoves the vague box she has always labeled future children farther back in her mind. “Is it wrong to be relieved?”  
“How you feel is how you feel.”  
Nile nods and starts walking again. They get to the castle, finding some pic-nic benches to sit on and enjoy the view. They eat the lunch Nicky picked out, a salad tub for each of them, Joe and Nicky's have lots of vegetables and a boiled egg, Andy got a lot of pasta in hers, a piece of the three different types of chicken each, then pastries. The juice Nicky pours into their new cups is an aggressive orange color but it tastes better than it looks.  
”You know I have been here before” Joe comes out with after a few minutes of looking out at the surrounding countryside, going so far as to walk around the seating area, Nicky has used the movement as a chance to steal Joe’s boiled egg, not that Joe notices when he sits down.  
“When?” Nile asks at the same time as Nicky asks “Are you sure?”  
“I drew these hills. The path up was different and there was a road, a pass through these hills. You had to go through an arch in a hillside, it was guarded.” Joe thinks for a minute, “Moores not Christians.”  
“How can you tell after all these years, it all starts to look the same.” Andy sounds despondent, Joe and Nicky look at her with concern. “Hills, a castle, they are all basically the same.”  
“Boss, you keep that talk up and Nicky will have my notebook drawing you out floor plans.”  
“The fact that there are standard floor plans proves my point.” Andy does sound happier, Nicky concedes her point with a nod of his head, going back to picking his chicken apart.  
“I had used my artistic talents to show patterns for cloth and once a mosaic floor in my house, this was the first time I had been paid to do something, I did some sketches for the ruler of the castle.” Joe tells them, “This was memorable, for me.”  
“How did you get the commission, if you hadn't done it before.” Nile asks.  
“I was sketching a tapestry in the entry by the stairs. An official took my papers, then I was called before the chief, I thought I was in trouble but he liked what I had done, landscapes, buildings and ships, I was still learning the craft. He asked me to draw the view, gave me the parchment, he wanted the view from the top of the tower, one sheet of parchment for each direction. So he could take the view with him when he left.”  
Something seems to be triggered in Nicky “If we did come here, it was before we meet Andy.”  
“Yes, when we were going to Cordoba from Genoa” Joe sounds certain.  
“When this was” Nile asks  
“Oh it was around 520,” Joe waves his hand “Or just before, it could not be after, because they were in Cordoba in 520”  
“That makes no sense, Joe” Nile tells him.  
Joe and Nicky have a shared look of confusion as they try to work out what has not translated to Nile. “Nile, we were definitely in Cordoba in 520.” Nicky tells her, “If we were here before that it could not have been earlier than 516, because we did not leave Cairo until then.”  
“Nicky, you two meet in the crusades, in 1099, you can not have been here in 520, it doesn't add up.” Nile is enfactic about this.  
Nicky laughs, “The date” he tells Nile “is an Islamic one, which is the calendar we would have been using then, but if we were in Genoa in 1124, then maybe 1125 or so.”  
“Oh, different calendars, right.” Nile aggressively stabs her food. “Another thing to get used to.”  
Nile misses the looks over her head.  
“At one time every empire, nation and people had their own calendar, most based on a ruler's life and fitting only to a local area. The modern Christian one is so much easier to use, if you do any traveling.” Andy tells her.  
"Or any history" Nicky adds, then Nicky reaches for Nile's hand, giving it a squeeze. “You said you would tell us if it is too much.”  
“No, it is not too much, just you know time it turns out is not constant.” Nile sighs.  
“Time is constant, at least on Earth, I think it is different on other planets, something to do with gravity, but physics is not my area. My point is Time is constant, the way of measuring it is not.” Nicky tells her, it's such a Nicky thing to say, he really is a nerd, Nile smiles at him.“You are such a nerd. You know that, Nicky.”  
“Booker has informed me.” Nicky gives her hand one last squeeze before he starts eating again.  
They take a walk around the castle after lunch, going up the tower, that is the only fully intact bit left. Once Nicky looks out over the landscape he agrees they have been here before. Nicky can remember Joe drawing up here when they stopped here for a week or two on their journey. 

Nile spends the walk back from the castle asking about how you went about traveling from Genoa to Cordoba in the 1100’s. This broadens into the logistics of travel before trains, planes and cars as Nile drives them onto Valencia. Nile is not sure she believes half the stories they tell, they seem like something out of a fantasy movie, all that walking and riding, but then Joe did complain about all the walking the other day. Nile tries to wrap her head around that not that long ago, no time at all to these Immortals, this trip that they are on would have taken weeks, not the days it has and they have been going slow and it blows her mind.

The apartment in Valencia is on the other side of the park where the Turia used to flow from the old town near the Real gardens. It has three bedrooms, one with an en-suite that the make Nicky and Joe take. Joe is outraged that the river has been moved, Nicky thinks it is a wonder of engineering, they argue back and forth through getting into and checking out the apartment ,unpacking, cooking dinner and as they all sit down to eat.  
“Nature has done far worse, Joe, China’s sorrow still flows wherever it wants, the Mississippi is not much better, don’t even get me started on volcanoes.” Andy finally snaps after two hours of this.  
“The Turia still flows into the Mediterranean, Joe, it just flows the other side of the old town now.” Nicky is still being reasonable, as he has the whole time.  
“Fine, whatever. Nothing to be done about it now.” Joe grumbles stabbing his food. Nicky smiles at him and reaches his hand across the table, Joe does not look up as he takes his hand. They eat the rest of the meal like that.  
Nile thinks she could ask about Pompeii or she could try to lighten things up. “I can see Joe as a hippy, flowers in his hair and beard.”  
“For people that talk about free love they were quite closed minded about what love looks like.” Nicky’s vitriol is a shock. Nile remembers what Joe said about the last time he was in the US, in the early 70’s, she should have asked about Pompeii.  
“Booker enjoyed himself.” Joe is still sulky.  
“Booker got drunk and high and had far to much sex with far to many women.”  
“Nicky, your priest is showing.” Andy warns.  
“Wait, what?” Nile stops Joe's response.  
“I was a priest before I became a knight to go on crusade.” Nicky wonders who she could not have known this, they have spent the last two days teasing him about being a scholar and she knows he struggled with his faith. Then he realized the world has changed so much, Nile could not have picked up the hints and not of them have said it outright until now. “Sorry Nile I thought you knew, that it was clear from what the others have said. I forget that you are so much younger than I and the world you come from is so very different that things are believe are self evident are not to you. I am glad to my core that learning is for everyone now, so common it no longer marks a man out.”  
“It only did in Christendom” Joe interjects. Nickys nods at his point, seeing Nile is still confused, “My family were wealthy enough, small time nobles, that I, as the second spare son, could be sent to the church. To be a priest, mostly my Father hoped it would lead to me getting some political power that would be of benefit for the family but I enjoyed the books and all the learning. I was taught Latin and Greek as well as to read and write my native Genoese, Mathematics, astronomy, natural science. I was a good scholar.”  
“Still are” Joe reassures Nicky.  
“How many degrees, do you have?” Andy adds pride in her voice.  
He looks at Andy, “Very few that are current. Nursing and structural engineering from the last ten years.” He cocks his head to think “No the nursing was the 90’s, after Bosnia.” He looks back to Nile “My father disapproved, he said books do not help family position, that I was useless to him. Then the Pope’s call came to go on God’s mission” Joe huff at this and Nicky nods like he agrees with the point. Given the language of Joe and Nicky, that’s probably true. “My father thought I had a use and I believed I did too, so off to the Holy land I went, for prestige and honor, I did not expect to return, I was happy to die for my cause.”  
“Which you did” Joe points out.  
Nicky levels a look at Joe, which Joe smiles at “Whereas, Joe here, is the second son of a merchant family from what is now Morocco,” Nicky continues after a few seconds “He was in charge of the route that used to sail here. He learnt Latin and Greek too, a few dialects of Arabic and some Persian. Mathematics and Astronomy far beyond anything I could learn, we just did not have the teaching, back in Roma. The thing is Joe was not a scholar, it was not something he gave his life to unlike me. In his world everyone learned, even his sisters and mother could read and write. “ Nicky pauses “It still amazes me.”  
“That woman can read?” Nile's voice is strange to Nicky's ears.  
“No” His voice is puzzled at her comment, “that people in Christendom accepted that reading and writing were only for a few rich men and royal women and let it happen for so long, when the rest of the world happily taught many different people to read. The church lost so much knowledge, it still suppress information” Nicky’s voice has undercurrent again.  
Joe hums at him rubbing his hand, Nicky sighs and shoots Nile a smile.  
“I know it sounds similar but my education was formal and isolating. Joe's made him a part of his world, not separated him from it.”  
“I am amazed Latin has lasted this long.” Andy changes the subject, Nile wonders what they have touched on that she wanted them to move away from. "I always thought it was an ugly language, Hittite was petty. Mesopotamian has subtleties Egyptian did not.”  
“Okay, I am going to sit over there and take some time and work out what questions I am going to ask.” Nile has decided to be honest with them, in the way they blow her mind when they just say things that shift her worldview or make her remember that they are so very old. Nile knows they are just trying to be honest with her. She takes hope in that her questions have not yet reached the stabbing point with them that Andy warned her about, Nile also hopes that she will get a warning first.  
“Joe and I will answer what we can, Nile.” Nicky's voice is soothing again as he releases his hand from Joe's and clears the table. As Nile sits down on the armchair closest to the window, Joe brings her over a pen and notebook. She gives him a quizzical look. “For your questions. When they come to you.” Joe explains.  
“Andy, Joe and I are going for a walk.” Nicky calls from by the door.  
“We are?”  
“Yes.”  
“Nile, Nicky and I are going for a walk.” Joe happily informs her like she just hadn’t heard the conversion.  
“Bring back dessert” Andy calls as she sits on the other armchair putting the TV on.  
“Yes Boss” Joe and Nicky chorus.

Nile opens the notebook, the first page has a picture of a tree on it, the next page is a girl using a sling shot at a helicopter, next to it is a lot of maths in Nicky’s handwriting, with something written below that she can not read. The next few pages are full of birds, cats and plants. Then there are bridges, a harbor and cityscapes.  
“I thought there would be more drawings of Nicky.” Nile tells Andy waving the notebook.  
“Joe will draw people, if he needs to. I have seen him do Nicky in ink, pencil, charcoal, oils and watercolor. Booker, Quyhn and I too. He might not have been in the mood.”  
“They are very good.” Nile flicks through the book again. The birds look read to fly off the page, she wants to stroke the cats. Nile put her pen to the first blank page, the questions start to flow out of her, one after another, jumping from topic to topic in no order. By the time Nicky and Joe return full of excitement she has filled three pages.  
Nicky puts down tubs of half melted ice cream, waffles with nuts and fruit, crepes with nutella. Joe opens a box with different cakes slices in and puts a bottle of drink on the table. He brings back glasses, forks and plates, pouring a glass for everyone. “Nile this is horchata de chufa, a local drink.”  
“It is very good.” Nicky says taking a sip. He and Joe catch each other's eye, Joe puts their glasses down and starts kissing Nicky, who pulls him back onto the sofa.  
“Nicolo!” Andy warns.  
“Sorry, Boss” Nicky calls from under Joe.  
“You are not, stop it, I do not want to watch you have sex. Again.”  
“I don’t want to see it for the first time.” Nile adds, Nile takes sip of the drink expecting alcohol, it’s not, it’s a creamy, smooth and not milk milk-like drink. “This is not alcohol.”  
“It’s sweetened ground tiger nuts mixed with water” Joe tells her.  
Nile drinks some more, “It’s good.”  
Joe seems happy that she likes the drink, “It’s like Kunna aya, like a drink from my childhood. I think we put spices in it and it was never this cold, but it's close.”  
“I remember this from the expulsions. One of the few good memories,” Nicky is finally sitting back up out from under Joe.  
“The expulsions?” Nile remembers the term from when they talked about coming here.  
“When the Christians conquered Al-Andalus, in 1240-ish they expelled all the Muslims. Hundreds of thousand of people were forced to move. Refugees have always struggled.” Joe explains sitting cross legged, boots off, on the opposite side of the sofa to Nicky.  
“We did what we could, my Love.”  
“I know. I just wish that when Christians conquer Muslims it could be with as much love and understanding as when you conquered me.” Joe even has the guts to wink after that line. Nicky shakes his head, it’s not a happy smile on his face. “Yusuf, no, you should not say such a thing.” He switched to Italian. “It is poor taste, to compare us to ethic cleansing.”  
“Sorry, forgive me.”  
“Always, my Love.”  
“Why Italian? Not Arabic for your private conversation?" Nile asks. She knows Nicky speaks Arabic.  
“Technically it mostly a form of Genoese, not true modern Italian. When we were first together no one around spoke it so we could speak freely, to each other. Then it became a habit. No one really speaks it any more, it’s truly private, Arabic is still widely spoken and we change with the times in our speech and word usage.” Nicky tells her, reaching across to take Nile's notebook. “Three pages Joe and she still finds more questions.” Joe reaches for the notebook. Andy talks it, putting it on the table. “Dessert first.”  
"What's your favorite dessert?” Nile starts the conversation once the Ice cream has been drunk more than eaten and they are starting on the waffles.  
“Mhalbiya” says Joe, looking at Nicky, Nicky flicks his folk at him, Joe smiles and goes back to eating.  
Andy catches Nile's eye and rolls hers at the actions of two men. “Baklava” that at least Nile has heard of. She looks at Nicky, he only has eyes for Joe, the air between them is charged.  
“Nicky” Andy snaps, he looks at her. “Nile asked you a question.”  
“She did?” Nicky sounds half asleep or drugged.  
“What is your favorite dessert?” Nile asks again. “Don’t say Joe.”  
“Oh but he is.” Nicky’s voice is thick, “No meal is complete without a touch of him, the perfect seasoning or spice for all my appetites, every taste more delightful than the sweetest treat.”  
“I thought Joe was the poet” Nile groans.  
“He is, that is one of Joe;s.” Andy puts in, sounding annoyed, fond but annoyed.  
“Does not make it less true, Boss.” Nicky sounds clearer headed. “In terms of real food, Gulab Jamun.”  
“That does not sound Italian.” Nile points out.  
“They are Indian sweets, milk-solids deep fried, covered in spiced sugar syrup.” Nicky explains looking at her.  
“That does not sound healthy at all.” Nile thinks that sounds gross.  
“They are so good. If not for the heat I would have gotten fat, I ate so many.” Nicky remissness.  
“More for me to love, my all.” Joe tells him, Nicky turning back to him at the words.  
“Booker likes Eton mess.” Andy says looking at the men on the sofa, the effect is like cold water breaking the spell they have been under, Joe ducks his head stabbing his fork into his waffle. Nicky shoots Andy a look which she smiles at and turns back to Nile. “What do you like for dessert Nile?”  
“What’s Eton mess.” Nile has an idea it’s fancy fruit and cream dish but she is not sure  
“Meringue whipped cream and strawberries mixed up together.” Nicky tells her.  
“That sounds like pavlova.” Nile tells him.  
“The story is that they went to make pavlova at Eton school but the bowl fell on the floor and smashed the meringue up, so they scoped the mess into bowls, so it Eton mess.”  
Nile laughs “What’s Mal-by-a?”  
“Mhalbiya?”  
“Yes”  
“It’s a rice dish, with nuts and flower water, pistachios and rose water when Joe has it.”  
“Like a rice pudding?”  
“A version of it, yes.”  
“I used to get this Millionaires cheesecake from a restaurant we went to when I was in Chicago. I was a kid the first time I got it, I thought it was what Millionaires eat, because of the name.” Nile sounds sheepish at her confession.  
“It could be what millionaires eat, the distinction between food for the rich and food for the poor is not as great as it was in western countries, after all we could eat meat every day and so much sugar, plus any of the spices.”  
“You don’t cook meat everyday.” Nile tells him.  
“Well, Joe does not cook meat at all,” Joe nudges Nicky’s leg with his socked feet, Nicky takes the foot in his hands, “it is not a bad thing, my love, I enjoy your cooking, it’s just how things have worked out between us.”  
“Nicky and Joe being city boys can not hunt.” Andy tells Nile.  
“Nicky can hunt.” Joe defends his love.  
“Nicky hunts better than you and only with projectile weapons.” Andy argues back.  
“Andy is much better at hunting then any of us will ever be,” Nicky tells Nile “but, Joe is much better at fishing than her.”  
“Fish are stupid, there is no challenge.”  
“Yes Boss, that’s why you are no good at it.” Joe teases.  
“Yes it is.” Andy's smile is all teeth. “As long as someone else prepares the meat Nicky is happy to cook it. Same for fish”  
“You like my cooking, Andy.” Nicky's voice has a small challenge in it.  
“I do, I like both of you's cooking, it means I don’t have to do it.”  
“Boss, even with our immortality, eating your cooking is a risk.” Joe sounds a little strange, but that is mostly due to the placement of his feet in Nicky’s lap and Nicky’s hands on him.  
“You two have no sense of adventure.” Andy's voice is happy.  
“I was not complaining, just pointing out that I had noticed.” Nile said.  
“No meat on Fridays, some holy days and fasting days, depending on a calendar only the two of them understand.” Andy tells Nile, “Seven hundred years and I can not work out the pattern.”  
“The Friday thing Catholic, right.” Nile asks Nicky.  
“Yes, We sometimes have fish” Nicky directs his comment to Andy.  
“The sardine thing? or the trout?”  
“Both, Boss.” Nicky turns to Nile, “and it’s only if we can, some place and times you eat what you can, you make do. When we have the luxury of keeping something from our past we do. The other days we mark are holy days that are important to us, but sometimes it’s because we feel like eating a certain meal. Joe is going to make lasagna tomorrow, it is not a holy day.” He emphasizes the words as he looks at Andy. “In two hundred years will you still celebrate.” He looks at Joe. “What’s the American family holiday called?”  
“Thanksgiving.”  
“Yes , do you think Thanksgiving in 2218 will look like it does today?”  
“I want to say yes, but it’s changed in like my grandmother's time, so no.”  
“Yet you will still want to celebrate it the way you do now. We keep traditions and pieces of our childhood, it is only natural.”  
“I guess.” Nile does not sound sure.  
“He is telling the truth, Nile, we all still do things because we did them when we were young.” Andy tells her, she has moved on to eating her crepe, putting one on Nile's plate. Nile has a couple of forkfuls thinking over what has been said. When she looks back up Joe and Nicky are not doing anything but they are also not-not doing anything. Nile gets up and closes the cake box. Andy makes an unhappy noise, so Nile gives her one of the guys crepes, they are not going to eat them. When Nile comes back from putting the box in the fridge she says in her clearest voice. “You two should go to bed.”  
“It’s not that late, we could play cards.” Joe tells her, his eyes not leaving Nicky. Nile gets a calculating look in her eye.  
“Nile, experience has taught me that while you think you will win with the two of them in this state, you don’t and it’s even more annoying.” Andy tells her. “Joe take Nicky and go to bed.”  
“If you are sure Boss.” Joe is getting up.  
“Yes, go, both of you.”  
Nicky and Joe head off to their bedroom, calling their good nights, hand in hand. Nile sits back down grabbing the remote. “Should I find something loud?”  
Andy snots, “They are not that bad, but a stupid action movie would be good. You should be able to follow the script if it in Spanish.”  
Nile starts looking through the channels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone that has left Kudos and commented.  
> It makes me very happy.


	7. Day Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Nile and Nicky.  
> Nile gets to practice as spy craft even if she does not know it.   
> They team test out some of her skills and working with her in difficult circumstances.  
> Nicky is having a bad day.  
> Andy worries everyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I going to mention a warning for some of things Nicky tells Nile about what has happened to him in the past. Skip the book section if you don't want to read. But it's a couple of lines and not in any great detail.  
> Nicky has a lot of anxiety and nearly has a panic attack. 
> 
> Sorry if it upsets any one.

Day Seven:

Nile wakes gasping hand to her throat, her neck is dry, her throat uncut. Nile’s breathing returns to normal, her room is too dark to see and somehow too light to sleep, she feels like the only person alive even though she can hear the city outside the window. After a few minutes of laying in bed the urge to check on the others and the apartment is secure becomes too great, Nile gets out of bed. The windows are shut, the door locked, nothing is out of place. Nile drinks some water, putting off checking the others, she knows they are fine it’s just, she needs to see. Nile wonders if this is how her Mother felt all the time she woke to see her standing at her bedroom door after her father died. Nile wonders if her Mother is checking on her brother. Nile cries for a few minutes for the loss of them, but it is not as sharp as it was, she stops by herself, not falling into the abyss like the other day. Nile washes her face in the sink, takes a deep breath and goes to get this over with. Andy’s bed is a mess, she is propped up halfway to sitting up, eyes open looking at Nile though the half cracked door.   
“I just needed to check.” Nile tells her.  
“I’ve not died in my sleep, kiddo, I’m not that old.”  
Nile flashes a smile, “Night Andy.” Nile goes to close the door.  
“Nile” Nile stops, Andy huffs, “You need to talk or a hug or something.”  
Nile smile is bigger and last for longer “No Andy, just to check on you”  
“Okay, don’t let Nicky shoot you.”  
“I’ll knock.”  
“Properly for the best. Night Nile.”  
Nile shuts the door and crosses to the guy’s room. Nile knocks at the door, waits a few seconds. When she opens the door, both men are awake, Joe sitting up behind Nicky, who is propped on his arm, the bed pushed against the wall, she can see furniture has been moved, both men are topless above the blankets. “I just need to check that you were alright.” Nile tells them.  
“Bad dream?” Nicky asks. Joe waves, collapsing back down behind Nicky, tucking himself back to sleep.  
“Yes”  
“Need anything else?”  
“No.”  
Nicky hums and folds himself into Joe's embrace. Nile heads back to bed, she feels able to sleep again, her family is safe.

Nicky is in the kitchen, drinking coffee, reading a book when Nile joins him in the morning, she waves a greeting getting coffee.  
“Andy and Joe have gone to get rid of the old car and get a new one” Nicky informs her when she sits at the table, “Joe left that for you.” Nicks points to a collection of folded paper on the table. “What would you like for breakfast?”  
“Can I have some toast?”  
“With anything?”  
“Jelly?”  
“Which one?”  
“Surprise me”  
“I think I can manage that” Nicky pats her shoulder as he passes.  
Nile drinks her coffee, letting the last of her sleepiness leave her, she takes paper a little nervous as to what Joe has left her. The pages have been cut from a notebook, the first page is a picture of her, her hair in the mohawk from the other day, laughing at something, fork in her hand. Nile is not sure if she really looks like that, she seems joyful and young, but is a good picture. The next page is writing, Joe's hand is neat but curly, each word a piece of art, Nile can tell just from this that he learned calligraphy. It takes a second for her to clue her brain in on how to read the words and then to understand the words. It’s a poem, it’s about two warrior women, she looks at the title “Axe and Bow”. It is the poem Joe wrote about Andy and Quynh, before the two couples meet. This is what Joe has been doing in the car. The next few pages are other poems about Andy and Quynh, the last page is the ‘fruit bowl’ poem. Nicky puts a plate of toast in front of her, each half of the four slices is a different color.  
“They are good translations, they say true to the originals, the English is a little more updated.” Nicky tells her.  
“You his editor?” Nile jokes.  
“I am now, he does not get to send everything he writes off to be published, anymore.”  
“He publish something you did not like.” Nile asks, waving the last page.  
Nicky points to the last page, “It was not that, but one about the Crusades, about Jerusalem, he did a point of view from the Franks side. I understand why he did it, what he was trying to work though but it was wrong, untrue. We rowed, I walked out.” Nicky's voice is thick with emotion, his eyes shine. “I stayed away for nearly a week. Yusuf was distraught when I returned. He promised me anything to stay.” Nicky wipes his eyes. “We talked about many things, he shows me his poems first.”  
“Oh”  
“Communication is the key to a healthy and happy relationship.” Nicky tells her, sagely.  
Nile laughs, “Yes, Cosmo tells us so.”  
Nicky smiles, he takes her cup to refill and sits back down with his own drink. Nile eats her toast, the jelly is thick and not as sweet as back home, she tries to place the flavors.  
“You okay with me reading this?” Nile asks waving the last page.  
“You would not have it if I was not.”  
Nile nods, putting the paper to one side. “If they have gone to get rid of the car, what are our plans?”  
“Shopping.”  
“More food?” Nile sounds nervous.  
“Clothes, I know what sizes and styles to get Joe and Andy, laptop, phones, dumb ones, trainers, Joe needs pencils and a new note book. I want to get something better to read.”  
“Is there a department store?”  
“Yes, near the old town.” Nicky gives her a half smile.  
“So, we can do most of it in one hit, then come back here, then go out and get anything else.”   
“Yes, agreed.” Nicky gives Nile a look of pride, like she just answered a quiz correctly.  
“We will go when I finish this.” Nile waves her last piece of toast over the coffee.

They leave through the backdoor to the building, walk across the road and down a side street between two blocks of apartments, into Real gardens. Nile slows Nicky down, when they get there, by linking her arm through his.  
“It’s alright, to walk like this?” Nile asks after a few steps, Nicky seems hesitant, slowing to a stop. “Should I have asked first? Sorry.” Nile pulls a way.  
“No, just unexpected. I am not familiar with your boundaries. I know when, where and how to touch Andy, Joe” He smiles at that “Booker, Quyhn when she was with us. I do not know you.”  
“We did not.” Nile orders her thoughts and starts again. “The Marine’s had stiff rules about touching. On leave I got used to being close to my brother. I guess, I mean it feels like leave.” Nile trails off in a mumble, Nicky does not press her as to what the last words were. “Well if you are happy to.” Nicky sticks out his arm, Nile loops hers back though and they stroll through the gardens, Nicky leads her along the path past a pond, though the rose garden with a massive fountain, past an aviary and out onto the Real bridge. Nicky pulls away before they cross the street, he gives an apologetic shrug, he looks around a causal survey of the area, done with a practiced air, if Nile had not been looking she would not have guessed what he was doing as they wait to cross.  
“This Is the park they put in where the Turia used to flow, Joe and I walked some of it last night.” Nicky tells her as they cross the bridge over the park. “The old town is on the other side.”  
“Did Joe remember any of it?”  
“The bit we walked, all tall buildings with narrow streets with no cars, feels like the towns of our youth. Joe believes the layout is similar but nothing stood out. But we did not explore it all.”  
They walk around edge of the old town, Nile can see tiny alleyways too small for a car and whole streets given over the pedestrians, very different for the wide boulevards around the edge. An entire multi-story building is marked as ‘El Corte Ingles’, the department store Nicky talked about.

On the ground floor Nicky quickly collects a couple of sketchbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils and colored pencils, sharpers, erasers and pens, then from the luggage section two large rucksacks, to put everything in. Nicky stops at a display of books, Nile tries to puzzle her way through the signs. “It’s local authors? something about history?” Nile asks Nicky in the end.  
“There are two types of books, histories of the area and then books by local authors mostly fiction or ones that are based in the area.”  
“What have you got?” Nile points to the book Nicky is holding.  
“Poems, with a vague Valencia theme.”  
“Vague theme.”  
“I have found collections like this before, it will be local authors' poems and then poems that mention the town, things like that, it is always good fun. The quality of the poem vary and as the author is local is often the reason that a poem is included, they can be about anything.”  
“Are you being a poetry snob?”  
Nicky laughs. “I think that these days anyone interested in poetry is a bit of a snob.” Nicky laughs again, “Joe and I will enjoy the book, reading it will be fun.”  
“If you say-so.”  
“I do. My question is do I get one of the fiction books? Sometimes the historical ones make you laugh, sometimes they make you sad or angry.”  
“Anyway of telling, which is which?”  
“No.” Nicky rests his pile of goods at his feet and starts to read the back of the books. Nile does the same, picking up the one Nicky has put down, working her way through each sentence, checking she gets the general idea with each book with Nicky. Nile does not get what Nicky thinks is so great about the two he picks out, on the other hand there are at least three books she is glad he put back and one he told her not to read the back of, because she was far too young to have that kind of image in her head. Nile like all children told not to read something does. “Now I need brain bleach.” Nile tells him as she puts the book down.  
“While it would not permanently kill you, chemicals like that to the brain can take more than one revivals to get out of your system, depending on the chemical strength.” Nicky's voice is flat. “I do not recommend it, while it would get that” Nicky points to the book, “out of your mind you would have far nastier things to plague your thoughts.”  
“Nicky I am so sorry, God, Someone did that?” Nile voice gets louder as she speaks.  
Nicky gives an old lady a smile as she stares at the two of them, collecting his pile of stuff, Nile kneels down to help. “Sorry.” she whispers.  
“Let’s go Nile” Nicky’s smile is tight. They move toward a till.  
“I am so sorry.” Nile whispers as they stand in line.  
“Nile you did not know, stop apologizing, I should apologize you did not mean what I thought you meant.” Nicky speaks in a low voice.  
“No-one thinks I meant what you came up with, because who does that?” Nile speaks at the same level as Nicky.  
“Russian major, Indochina, 1949.”  
“Is he dead?”  
“Joe” Nicky takes a breath. “I made Joe escape, he came back with Booker and Andy. I don’t remember seeing anyone alive as we left.”  
“Okay, good.” Nile nods. They pay for the goods and Nile packs everything in one of the bags he just bought, Nicky charming the woman at the till. Nicky walks toward the shoe section.  
“What did you mean?” Nicky finally speaks again looking at men's trainers.  
“That I need something to clean the stain in my brain that the bit on the back of the book had left, that’s all.” Nicky still looks puzzled. “It just means that it was bad and I wish to have no memory of it.”  
“Would that be a nice thing to have. Unfortunately all we have is time.” Nicky tries a smile at Nile, it is a fragile thing.  
“What size does Andy take?”  
“Andy does not wear trainers, only boots. Still now maybe she will agree they are a good thing now.”  
“I am going to pick my trainers.” Nile waves her hand at the women's section of sport shoes, Nile hesitates to leave him, Nicky seems unsettled again, like the last time he was away from Joe with her in Antwerp, still, the faster they get this done, the faster she can have him safe in the apartment. .  
“Okay. I will find you do not leave the section.”

Nicky finishes paying for three sets of trainers, coming up behind Nile who is looking at the make-up counter, “See anything you need or want?”  
“No Nicky, it's all for people with lighter skin than me.” Nile turns away, Nicky’s eyes linger for a second before he follows her. “Do you want anything?” she teases.  
“Men have worn cosmetics for most of my life. It’s only the last two hundred years or so, it’s been frowned on, although it’s getting more acceptable again.”  
“You wore make-up.” Nile sounds incredulous.  
“Of course”  
“No way!”  
Nicky hears the surprise in Nile’s voice and pulls her into the stairwell. “Why is this so hard for you to comprehend?” his voice is sharp, angry but not threatening.   
“It's just so very different from what I expect from a bad-ass mercenary.” Nile keeps are tone low and calm, Nicky is not angry with her, this is the anxiety coming out.  
Nicky laughs, low a something. “How things change.” he shakes his head, calming down. “You do not know what a Varangian Guard was,” Nile shakes her head “No? They were Northern mercenaries that worked for the Byzantine rulers. Very famous around my first life, like the SAS or Navy seals. They were badass mercenaries, now unlike my own Frankish troops, bathed, wore cosmetics and jewelry, cared for their hair and were greatly feared. I told bathing was not a thing we did. Anyway, when I started travelling with Yusuf, people saw a Frank and we often had trouble. So, after encountering some Varangian caravan, going somewhere we were not, I changed my look to more like theres, Joe was already making go to the baths, different style of clothes,did something with my hair, put kohl around my eyes and we had far less trouble.”  
“You kept the look up.”  
“I kept the kohl up for a long time, then just eyeliner and mascara sometimes.” Nicky shrugs “I liked the look. But it fell out of favour in the West, so I stopped.”  
“You miss it?”  
“Yes, it was part of my identity for nearly 700 years, something I choose for myself, a clear mark between my first life and this one.”  
“Tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you. You can wear it around the house, if nothing else.”  
“Nile, you are very good to offer, thank you. Let me think about it, see how memorable it would be, how good Copley is at hiding us. I rationalized stopping, I would have to rationalize starting again.”  
“And see what Joe thinks” Nile teases.  
“How I look and dress has nothing to do with Joe. While I may take his preference into consideration, the choice is mine alone.”  
“Sorry, I just…”  
“You are young, “Nicky cuts her off, flashing a smile, hand on her shoulder. “but I have been with Joe for a very long time,” Nile laughs. “You need to do things for you, to make yourself happy, to be your own person not an extension of the one you are with.” Nicky draws Nile into a hug. “You are sweet and I get that you were teasing,” Nicky pulls back “but I have seen many relationships fail, even before my first death if a woman felt she was nothing more than a part of her husband, if she felt her only identity was as a wife, not one thing that marked her out as a person, those marriages were not good ones.”  
“But you're not a woman or a wife.” Nile points out.  
“I can compare myself to a wife, Joe can do the same, anybody else does it they get stabbed.” Nicky pokes her in the ribs, then tickles her.  
“Stop that” Nile shrieks, slapping his hands.  
“I know your weakness” Nicky smiled, letting Nile gather herself, “ready to go up to men's clothes?”

Nicky is efficient as he navigated the men's section, packs of socks and underpants into the basket, then tee-shirts, shirts, jumpers and hoodies, lastly trousers, Nile carrying while he picks. Soon they are standing in line for the till, Nicky is checking her arm full of stuff, running through a list in his head. Nile thinks it’s a lot of stuff for two people but Nile is a marine, she is not going to demand Nicky take a share, Then Nicks stills and his face drops and he starts pulling clothes out of the pile and packs out of the basket. Nicky tells Nile something in Italian, Nile confusion must get through to him even in this state. “Pay, Por Favour, stairs, after.” Nicky’s breath is hitching as he walks off with the items he has rejected.  
The old lady in front of Nile in the queue gives her a smile, as does the older lady at the counter. Nile’s Spanish has fled with Nicky, she is glad no one tries to talk to her. Nile hesitates to open the door to ‘their’ stairs, when she does she sees Nicky sat on the steps.  
Nicky has folded himself up, arms over his head, face down to his knees, a tight ball.  
“Nicky?” Nile reaches out to him, Nicky grabs her hand, pulls it between both of his above his head. He lets out one sob and a shuddering breath, before stand-up and releasing Nile's hand. “Booker”  
“Booker?”  
“I am mad at Booker for what he did, for things he has said in the past, for what he had put Joe and Andy through. Annoyed that he is not here for me to shout at, glad that I do not have to deal with him, I miss him, I am upset that I miss him, pissed off that I just picked out a set of clothes for him without thinking, piss off that you hear bad things about him without him to defend himself, so I wish to defend him and then I get annoyed that he makes me want to defend him when I am angry at him.” Nicky lets out a stream of air and wipes his face, “I could go on. Booker is just this boiling stew inside me.”  
“Do you want a hug?”  
Nile gets a half smile, “You are sweet, but I do not wish to be touched.” Nicky lets out another breath. “lets see what we need from the next floor.”

The woman's clothes take up the whole floor, again Nick is quick and methodical here too, socks, knickers, sports bars, as he heads to the next section, he stops, “You do not want anything?”  
“i do, but slow down and let me look.” Nile tells him.  
“Can I wait in a place where I am not surrounded by women's undergarments?”  
Nile laughs, “Sure, I find you by the tee-shirts.”  
Nile adds her underwear to the basket when she finds Nicky, he has added some tee-shirts, Nicky casts one eye over the lacy items to go with the utilitarian packets she has also picked. “Sometimes a woman needs to feel pretty.”  
“Nile, you are always pretty, but I understand the need to feel good about one's self. It is a lot of lace.”  
“Yup.”  
Nile is not going to ask why Nicky colors all of a sudden, she is sure Nicky would tell her, she just doesn’t want to know. Nicky stays close as she picks out tee-shirts. a hoodie and a jumper, Nicky picks a jumper for Andy and then they do the same for jeans and combat style trousers. Nile knows Nicky is learning her sizes and preferences. Even if it is just for something not green. For once there is no que to pay. The rucksacks are filling up.

The top floor has the electronic section tucked away in a corner, they have a few phones, Nicky stands in front of the section and lets out a long sigh, rubbing his face.  
“Do we have a problem, Nicky?” Nile asks, she can see a collection of pay-as-you, basic phones, they type the drug dealers back home use.  
Nicky takes a deep breath, “Booker-would-tell-me-what-to-get.” It comes out as one long stream of air.  
“Trust me?”  
“Of course Nile.” A frown crossed his face “Have I made you think I did not.”  
“No Nicky,” She goes to put her hand on his shoulder, waiting for a nod before she makes contact. She gives it a squeeze, then rubs circles with her thumb. “I knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as I said it, You speak old people English” Nicky gives her a half smile. “I mean I know what to get, if you will let me pick.”  
Nicky nods, waving his arms in a ‘be my guest’ way.   
Nile grapes the drug dealer phones and some pre-pay cards for the right network, handing to Nicky to hold. She walks over to the laptops, ignoring the tablets and the I-Pads, looking for something robust, in-stock and student based. She narrows it down to two, Nicky has no preference, he still looks a little lost. Nile picks the nicer laptop, if she is going to use it she is going to get something she likes. Nile finds her broken Spanish and Nicky silent act stops any questions from the shop assistant. when she is packing the phones away, waiting for the receipt, her shop assistant brings another one over, Nile not sure is going on but they don’t seem confrontational. This second assistant explains, in English, how to send one copy of the receipt to the insurance and she should keep the other safe, in case it’s needed. Both of them hope her group's lost luggage does not ruin their trip. Nile and Nicky both thank them for help and kindness.

They make their way down the stairs and past the ground floor to the basement, where there is a supermarket.  
“You said no food shopping, Nicky.”  
“We need some things for dinner tonight.”  
“Okay, then back to the apartment.”  
“Yes, of course.” Nicky collects a basket, making for the chiller section. Nile watches Nicky get some sort of cream and soft cheese and then a couple of bottles of horchata. He then heads for the tills. Nile follows behind collecting packets of salami and ham.  
“Is it okay to have this in the apartment.” Nile asks when they get to the till.   
Nicky stares at the packages, “Yes, put it with the rest.”  
“I am not going to make you buy stuff you wont eat, Nicky.”  
“Thank you.”

They walk back onto the street, crossing the road and down a sides-street until they come to a large roundabout, with what looks like a stone gateway in the middle of it.  
“Joe and I debated if it was old and conserved or new and therefore art.” Nicky tells her as they wait to cross the road.  
“Which is it?”  
Nicky does not answer until they are waiting to cross the road again. “Nether, it’s a memorial to the dead of the Civil war, made to look like an old gate.”   
Nile does not think that her bitten back comment of that means it is art, will go down well, Nicky is still in a strange mood and Nile blames herself, she has messed things up with him.  
They cross a different bridge to the one they went over before and Nile stops to look at the next bridge down, it is covered in flowers.  
“We did not notice that last night.” Nicky tells her.  
“It’s very pretty, I wonder how they do it?”  
“It’s properly something very simple and easy but until we know let’s say magic.” Nicky smiles at her, she can tell he is trying.  
“Magic” Nile agrees.  
Nicky leads them down a ramp into the Turia park once they are over the bridge, which is very pretty but not as formal as the Real gardens. After they pass under a bridge and Nicky has cast an assessing eye over the stone work, they carry on walking slowly, Nicky doing some sort of breathing exercise. Nile thinks Nicky might be trying to get ten minutes of walking in the woods in. Nile is a little startled that he has listened to her this much, it makes her feel like she is part of the team not just someone they are looking after. When they exit by another ramp and walk up the street to the apartment building front door, Nicky seems to be little calmer, the air of tension is lessening around him . 

When they get back to the flat Andy is stretched out on the sofa, they can see her feet over the armrest from the entry. Nile can hear Joe in the kitchen chopping vegetables, he comes into the hall to meet them.   
“Nicky! The new car is an automatic, it changes gears for you.” Joe is rocking on the balls of his feet.  
“You let Joe drive!” Nile shouts at Andy, heading straight for the sitting room, to stand at Andy’s feet. When Andy moves the arm from over her eyes to glare at Nile, Nile can see a cloth on her forehead, Andy looks tired.  
“Andy, what happened?” Nile feels Nicky behind her, then he is kneeling by Andy’s head, Joe is nervous in the hall, not entering the room. “She said her head hurt, she did not hit it. I thought that might help”   
“You were supposed to distract them so I could get up, Joe.” Andy grumbles from the sofa, hand going to Nicky face, “I did not want to worry you Nicky.”  
“Well you have.” Nicky tells her, taking her risk to check her pulse. “Where does it hurt?”  
“Top of my head, behind my eyes.”  
“No where else.”  
Andy let out a sigh, “Being mortal sucks, how do they cope with all these aches all the time. My gunshot wound aches, the stitches pull, the knife wound in my shoulder hurts, the scabs itch, my hands still ache from the fight, my back has a bruise on it that my bra is pressing on and my head hurts.”  
Nicky sighs in relief. “No nausea? No effects to your vision? No strange smells or sounds? Not dizzy?”  
“No none of that.” Andy tells him, trying to pull her hand free. Nicky kisses it before letting go, he stands up, laughs as he does. “I was going to ask if you are allergic of aspirin, but how would we know. I will get you some ibuprofen, it is a painkiller and anti inflammatory, it will help with everything. I will get you some moisturizer, it will help with the itching. While I am out I want you to drink a large glass of water and a small glass of fruit juice. The headache could be dehydration, low sugar or too much caffeine, that will help with all of it.”  
Joe places two glasses on the table, “Dehydration, already Andy has drunk something today, should it be so fast?”  
“Andy drinks a lot of coffee. It is not the best for re-hydration and the effects are cumulative, if she has not been drinking enough the last few days.”  
“I can hear you, Nicky.”  
“Yes Andy, I know you can. Do you want me to list the other things it could be; stress, tiredness, eye strain.”  
“Eye strain” Andy questions after waving her hand in dismissal at the first two, stopping his list..  
“From not wearing sunglasses in the sun or maybe you need your eyes checked?”  
“I will stab you, if you ever suggest that again.” Her threat is not as effective as it could be as Nicky helps her sit up.  
“Yes Boss.” Nicky kisses her forehead. “I will go to the pharmacy, drink the drinks” Nicky turns to Joe, “You will not let her hide these things from me, in this the medic over rules the Boss, entender?” Nicky's voice has lost all warmth, Andy looks pissed at him.   
“Si,Si” Joe nods at Nicky, “Sorry Boss.” he says to Andy and he sounds it.  
“I won’t make it hard for you, Joe. Nicolo has spoken.” Andy tells Joe.  
“Yes he has.” Nicky's voice is hard, but he kisses Joe's forehead, whispering something against his skin that makes Joe relax up from his hunched up shoulders. Nicky walks to Nile, touching her shoulder to lead her away. “Nile, the same goes for you, don't let Andy hide things from me” His voice is soft to her. “Please don’t let Andy make it hard for Joe.”  
“No conflicted orders for him.” Nile clarifies.  
“It’s not normally an issue, Andy and I worked things out a long time ago. We both just want him to be happy.”  
“Okay, I keep an eye on things.”  
“It should not be an problem, Andy should not push things, she knows how that will end. I just worry that she will hide things from us.”  
“Got it.”  
Nicky nods, passing the bags on the way to the door. “Nile, if you think it will not make things worse you can tell them about the stairs, I will leave it up to you. Can you also put the shopping away and charge the phones and laptop. Please.”  
“Sure Nicky.” Nile walks him to the door, just before she closes it. “Nicky, I’ve not overstepped with Joe at any point.”  
Nicky smiles “Nile your are sweet,” Nicky leans on the wall, very relaxed and open “no, we will talk one day in a few years, when you take the place in this team I think you are going to take. Perhaps after Booker returns to us. Until then do not worry,”  
“Okay.”  
Nicky, wobbles for a second, then kisses Nile on the forehead, before walking off.  
Nile puts the food shopping in the fridge, folding the bag up. Then takes the other bags into the sitting room, Andy and Joe are on the sofa, talking in low voices in Italian, Andy’s hand on Joe’s knee, the glass of juice is empty. “Did Andy drink that?” Nile asks, when there is a pause in the conversation.  
“Yes Andy did.” Andy says, “What did Nicky say to you?”  
“To charge the laptop and phones, put the shopping away, that in a few years when Booker is back I am going to have a very awkward conversation and I should only tell you about his melt down if I think you can handle it.” Nile has finished unpacking the laptop and is looking for a plug socket, she finds one near the bookcase in the corner of the room.  
Andy Snorts “Nothing important then.” She sighs “He had a melt down?”  
“Drink your water and I will tell you.” Nile crosses back to the armchair to sit down as she unpacks four identical phones.  
Andy gives Nile her best glare, Nile does not even look up or slow her actions. Andy drains her water, putting the glass down with a thud. “Happy now?”  
“If you break a glass, your cuts will not heal.” Nile tells her.  
Andy laughs, “So much potential Joe. Did I tell you she tied me up?”  
“No, she bested you.”  
“I fell asleep on the plane”  
“See Boss that is why you should not sleep on planes they can not be trusted.”  
Nile laughs, “Afraid of flying Joe?”  
“Flying is fine, it’s the crashing or the falling I do not like.”  
Nile laughs again.  
“Joe I am telling a story.” Andy scolds,   
“Sorry Boss.”  
“So as I was sleeping, she tied my arms, separately with the seat-belts, then tried to make me get to change the destination of the plane. I had to get the pilot to fake his death and threaten to crash the plane to get her to untie me.”  
“Well done Nile.” Joe sounds so proud of her, it shocks her. “Nicky was worried you would be so lost with what was happening to you, but you are coping so well.”  
“You are coping well” Andy agrees, after a beat, like she had to wait for the notification to praise the new one before she did, she moves her arm slowly toward Nile.  
“If you touch my hair I will break your fingers” Nile warns leaning back from Andy.  
Andy laughs, Joe is in fits of giggles, breathing out ‘so well’ every so often.  
Nile gets up to find sockets to charge all the phones, she ends up having to use ones in the bedrooms, Nile adds getting a multi-USB charger plug to her to-do list and a couple of battery packs. She comes back to the sitting room and starts unpacking the rest of the bags. The clothes go into three piles, Nicky and Joe can sort it out between them. “Andy you may want to look at wearing trainers for exercise, which you will need to do now you are mortal.”   
“I hate going to the cobblers, they are always creepy.” Andy grumbles.  
NIle pauses at that, gives up trying to workout when Andy last brought her own shoes, “I think shoe shopping has changed since you last went. We can go together.”  
“What fun.” Andy words drip with sarcasm.  
Nile puts her clothes in her room, then does the same for Andy, looking pointedly at Joe until he gathers everything up for his room.  
When they are all seated again, Nile takes a deep breath. “It was not one thing, Nicky’s melt down. I screwed up, I said something about brain bleach.” She hears Andy's sharp intake of breath and Joe’s cursing. “Yes, Sorry, it’s slang for wanting to erase the memory of something mildly unpleasant. I won't use it again. Then I completely messed up with eye make-up and Nicky and relationships, it was a whole conversation. Plus I think there was a bunch of stuff he was not telling me, in hindsight, maybe about Booker, I don’t know but, heads up he might start wearing eyeliner again and we are not going to say anything bad about it.” Nile holds up her hand to cut off any comments, Andy is smiling at her for some reason. “So, he was not in a good frame of mind when we bought the clothes and he picked out stuff for Booker. He realized in the queue, then took Booker’s stuff out. He had a little cry in the stairwell while I paid. He’s got like twenty different feelings about Booker going on at the same time, I quote ‘Booker is just this boiling stew inside me’, if that helps.” It might be an idiom or it might be the way Nicky speaks. Nile takes another breath “Booker was the main IT guy, I take it” Joe nods “So IT shopping fell to me and I am happy to do it. But Nicky is upset and frustrated by that. So he has not had a good day. Okay”  
Andy lets out frustrated noise and crumples back on the sofa. arms going over her head. “I’ll talk to him later.”   
“Thanks Boss” Joe looks at Nile. “You did good, you completed the mission, got him home.”  
“Some mission.”  
Andy sticks one eye out from under her arm, “Whole armies have been lost due to a lack of supplies, it’s important.” then there is the beat again, “You did good, corrected your mistake, listened and steeped up when needed. Good job.”  
Nile feels warm from the praise. She looks into the bag, to hide her blush. Nile hands Joe the art supplies, his face lights up. “Thank you Nile.”  
“Nicky got them for you.” Nile corrects him. “He said you would like this too.” She hands him the book of poems. Joe reads the back and laughs, “Andy, this will be so much fun.” Andy pulls the book to her face. “This will be shit, read one.” she shoves the book back at him smiling. Nile leaves the two novels on the table and goes back to the entry to dump the bags. Nicky comes back as she is there, Nicky gives her a look. “I have moved” She answers back as if he spoke, she wave the bags, “All unpacked, everything is charging,”   
Joe barks a laugh, “This one.”  
“Joe has found a shitty poem to read, Andy has drunk everything.”  
“Gracias, Nile”  
Nicky goes into the sitting room, Nile to the kitchen where she grabs the cake box and horcha from the fridge, deciding against carrying the plates and cups at the same time.  
“You should not take pills on an empty stomach and you need something to wash it down with.”  
“Si, Nile Hai ragione” Nicky goes into the kitchen.  
“English, My all.” Joe shouts after him opening the box.  
Nile sits down, “It’s okay Joe. I need to learn.”  
Nicky comes back into the room, “I am happier to hear, English my all for the next few years, than I was French, my all.”  
Joe pulls Nicky down between himself and Andy on the sofa, there is barely enough space. “Booker is terrible at langues.” Comes from Andy as she sits up. She takes her pills with her drink as Nicky dishes up cake slices.  
“We found somewhere to make the call to Copley, we’ll go after lunch, it should take a couple of hours.” Andy tells Nicky and Nle after a few bits of cake.  
“If you are well enough.” Nicky tells her.  
“If you are well enough” Andy counters.  
“Nile told you.”   
“She did, my all.” Joe places a hand on Nicky’s back  
“She did well, sounds like she coped with you just fine.” Andy tone is one of approval.  
“It was not a full episode,” Nicky hesitates, he looks to Nile, “Panic attack” Nile nods, “But she coped with my mood on a bad day.” Nicky sounds proud of her, Joe is rubbing Nicky’s back.   
“Still a good first mission. We will have to get her gold stars.”  
“Piss off Joe,I am not a child.” Nile exclaims.  
Joe laughs, Nicky looks at her.  
“Shut up Nicky, I don’t care how much older you are than me, I am an adult.” Nicky tells him.  
“Great you’re doing it too, he’ll just stop talking altogether again.” Andy complains.  
Nicky turns to Andy, his voice clear, “I am fine to talk to Copley, how is your head?”  
“Better. We will go in an hour.”  
“Bene. Joe finish your cake then, read the poem.”  
Joe gives Nicky a little kiss and brings his arm back in front of him to eat.

Andy outlines the plan, she and Nicky will take the car, they take the laptop but no phones, Joe and Nile will take the train and walk, so they will leave first, as their trip will take up to an hour and a half, Joe already has passes for the metro. They will call Copley, split up again, meet in another location and then come back to the apartment, if everything goes well.  
Nile and Joe go out the back door of the apartment building and down the street and then go right though the Real garden not left, like Nile had with Nicky. Getting on the red metro, at the first stop they come to. As they sit in the carriage Joe keeps reading bits from the booklet about all the places you could visit in and around Valencia, when he bought the tickets.   
“Should you really be concentrating on that book, not on the other people?”  
“Nicky paranoia has affected you too? Black top, jeans male, Long hair, green dress and grey suit, in the carriage when we sat down. Female, striped jumper, three children, got on with us. Teen, backpack, dye hair with teen, satchel, piercings got on the next stop. That is when Old woman and fat man got off.”  
“Okay you are paying attention.”  
“I have been doing this longer than your country has been alive” Nile makes a grumpy sound and hunches her body in a slump, “Nile, you were being very subtle in your observations for someone that only been doing it a decade or so.” Nile looks at him, he winks. “Also no one pays attention to tourists. Or rather they see tourists, they don’t see people.”   
Nile thinks about that and she has written people off as tourists on the L, only seeing them as an obstacle between her and the door that will not know to move. “When we were at the department store the assistant thought that Nicky and I were replacing lost luggage. I guess that the story that fit what they where seeing”   
Joe laughs “Nicky and I have used that as a story when we had to replace stuff before.”  
Four stops later they get off. A few other people do, Joe waits until they have cleared the platform to move on. Joe walks them through the houses of what turns out to be a small village and on to a road between some fields. They don’t see many cars on the road, a total of ten, nothing that passes them twice and nothing that stands out. Joe gets Nile to agree to come with him to the art Museum that is basically next door to the apartment. Nile wins three of the five races they have, she is better over the longer distances.  
Joe leads Nile to a warehouse, it is north of Valencia, up the coast, in an industrial development. The building is closed up, the air musty, surfaces dusty but it is not derelict. When they get upstairs to an open plan office, Nicky and Andy are already there, Nicky is doing something with the building internet cable that has Nile fearing fire. Once he gets the new laptop working he jumps through a couple of websites and pages, non Nile recognizes and most are not in English. Joe gets to work moving partitions around, he asks Nile to remove any paperwork and notices that could be seen from the laptop position. Once Nicky seems happy with the set up he waves at Joe. Joe sits Andy down in front of the laptop, she glares at both of them.  
“Press this button” Nicky tells her, comes around the back out of view, sitting on a desk chair. Nile sits on another chair, Joe on a desk. Andy hits the button and rings Copley. There is a ringing sound and then, the light from the monitor changes and Copley's voice comes through the laptop speaker. “Hello Andy.”  
“Where are we?” Andy asks, without any pleasantries.  
“If you are asking if I have tracked your movements, I do not know your current location and your VPN is bouncing all over the place.” Andy’s eyes flick to Nicky, he gives a thumbs up, “If you are asking about Merricks Lab, I could not just wipe the footage it would look too suspicious, so I made an obvious hack in, to hide my hack and then a bad wipe of CCTV and a total wipe any files about the tests on you” Nile see Nicky tenses and hears Joe sharp breath in. “Made it look like they where do illegal medical trials, which they where, corroded files and in places copied out in the CCTV your images to a mercenary group that is known for corporate espionage and violence,” Andy looks to Nicky, he shakes his head and they both look at Nile, Joe whispers to her, “Is he falso, or this is a thing he can do?”  
“It sounds possible.” Nile whispers back, Copley has stopped speaking, Nile gives Andy a thumbs up.   
“Go on” Andy tells Copley.  
“The group I swapped you out for has some outstanding warrants and most agencies and brokers will not use them, they are not innocents.” Andy hums an approval, Copley carries on slightly calmer, if he had been worried about his choice of scapegoat. “I have told the Met evidence system to classify all the samples as medical waste, I had confirmation that everything was sent for destruction yesterday.” Nicky lets out a long sigh. “Nothing was tested, no DNA added to the system. The doctor that took the samples in being investigated for illegal human testing, she will be struck off the medical register, she has been keeping her mouth shut about everything. I will keep track of her.”  
“Good” Andy flexes her hands into fists.  
“I have also been pulling CIA MI5 and 6, FSB and Mossad files on you and some other random groups to cover what I am trying to cover up, but I can only delete what is on computers. China has copies of a whole bunch of files from a number of agencies, so I have been working on that. Any other agencies I should know about?”  
“The DGSE, agencies in South African, India, Pakistan.“Andy lists her eyes go to Nicky who mouths something, Joe does the same when she looks at him. “Australia, New Zealand.”   
“I got New Zealand, the Rainbow Warrior, really.” Nicky sticks out an arm to warn Joe off from speaking as Copley talks.  
“Nothing good happens with the DGSE.” Andy tells Copley with a straight face, Nile sees both Nicky and Joe smile at the joke.  
“Okay, with the paper files we will just have to hope that no-one looks, the British stuff I could put another 50 years' secrecy on any file I know about, but anything from WW2 is already in the public domain.”  
“We were mostly with the French and freelancing, during World War Two.”  
“You have been good about bio-metrics. I could not find any at passport controls, I guess you have new ID’s, that the ones I had uncovered are burnt.” Andy makes a go on noise. “I have been deleting images as I find them, but as long as you stay off the police and federal radars you should be good.”  
“Good work. Keep it up” Andy tells him.  
“Is Freeman there?” Copley asks in a rush, as if he expected Andy to hang up.  
“Yes.” Andy sounds wary.  
“Can I speak to her?”  
“No”  
“Andy” Nile stands up.  
“I don’t want you on camera.” Andy tells Nile, Nile stops moving.  
“Okay, I can hear you Copley” Nile sits back down.  
“She is there and can hear me.” Copley asks. Nicky gets up, checking out the windows, Joe the door to the office.  
“Yes.”  
“Miss Freeman, the US Army has listed you killed in action, with full honors. Your family has been informed. Your funeral will be on Thursday.”   
“Thanks for telling me.” Nile tells Copley her voice louder than before cracking slightly. Joe has circled back to Nicky and then to near Andy. He holds a paper to Andy. Andy frowns “Nicky has a list of websites for you to check. Ready?”  
“Yes”  
Andy starts to read off not website names but the number codes for web pages. There are six of them.  
“What are these sites?” Copley asks. Andy looks to Joe.   
“Billboards, for jobs, Central America or the Middle East.” Joe tells her.  
“I will monitor these sights for any mention of you.” Copley tells them, “anything else?”  
Joe, Nicky and then Andy have a silent conversation before Nicky lets out a “Bene” in a big release of air waving his hand at them.  
“Booker, what did he tell you? Where is he now? Are you keeping an eye on him as well?”  
“Booker went to Paris and is still there, I can give you an address. As for what he told me, not a lot about any of you. I found out more on my own. Aside from Miss Freeman. I have no idea how old any of you truly are, an exact location of birth, your true names, pass aliases, if you call anywhere home, any current or past relationships.”   
“You really don’t know anything about us.” Andy tells him, he nods. “Goussainville, were the police involved?”  
“No we cleaned up our dead and ordnance, but left everything else.”  
Andy nods, a quick look at Joe and Nicky who is looking anxious, a long one at Nile, who shakes her head “Next week”  
“Next week.” Copley echo’s, then Nicky pulls the cables out the back of the laptop.  
“Nile the car is at Casa Loca, it’s a restaurant around the corner.” Andy tosses her the keys. “Take Nicky. Joe and I will meet you in Roca-Cuper in an hour.”  
Nicky finishes shutting down the laptop and packs up all the cables, he leads Nile out the room.

Nile walks behind Nicky, he is not being circumspect in his searching of the area, Nile is not being that careful either, the tension coming off Nicky is catching. They stop by the edge of the car park, Nile blips the key fob, partly to see where the car is, partly to see if it blows up, Nile seen this movie before. She blips the button a few more times and all that happens is the car's lights flash. This car is a blue Skoda estate from 2014, Nile spends a few minutes getting the comfy seat just right and fiddling with the mirrors. Nick uses this time to look around and under the car. Finally he opens the back passenger door.  
“You can sit in the front” Nicky looks at the front passenger seat. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I don’t mind.”  
Nicky sits in the front seat, placing the laptop at his feet.  
“Do we need to destroy that?” Nile asks, she hopes not.  
Nicky shakes his head.  
“Sure”  
Nicky nods.  
“Okay, you know I can’t drive and look at you, so you are going to have to talk, also I have no idea where we are going.” Nile turned to look at him fully, “Nicky do I need to get Joe? Is there something I should be doing?”  
Nicky takes her hand and brings it up to the back of his neck. Nile rubs a bit with her thumb as Nicky breathes in and out in deep breaths.  
“I am having a bad day and pushing myself too hard, Andy called me on it earlier, thought I could handle this, I want to be able to handle this, I don’t like you seeing me like this. I should be in control, nothing has happened.” Nicky speech is slow in time with his breaths out.  
Nile gently shakes him, “Nothing happened today, but something happened the other day and like loads of other days before that. The lab was bad, not because of what they did, which was horrible but because of all the other times it’s happened before and it was going to get worse, you knew that. You are handling this, you have got this. You can have bad days. I spent a day crying, do you think less of me for it?”  
“Nile that was understandable you have had a lot to adjust to.”  
“So is this. You feel how you feel.”  
“I feel like a fool. I want to trust Copley but suddenly I do not feel safe and I want to hurt him.” Nicky sounds more like himself.  
“Would you be better if Joe was here?” Nile scans around the car worrying her lip, would Nicky be okay if she went and got Joe, they can’t have gone far.  
“No, he does ground me better than anyone else but you are good to, I trust you, you came through for us.” Nicky finally meets her eyes.  
Nile is happy that he trusts her, that she is helping. But she is going to admit to herself that she is feeling out of her comfort zone, Nicky might need more help than she can give, she might say the wrong thing again and break him some more.. She wonders what the underlying issue is, PTSD or something else more fundamental to Nicky.  
“Copley helped me get to you, I could not have don’t without him. I believe him when he says he is on our side. He is not going to sell us out.” Nile tells Nicky hoping to reassure him.  
“You are vouching for him.”  
“Yup.” Nile gets this is a big deal, she does believe that Copley has switched to their side that he regret his actions and is going to help and protect them, so they can do good in the world. Copley better not get her exiled too.  
Nicky takes another deep breath and let’s it out with a sigh. “I still want to punch him. But you can start the car.”  
“Sure? We can sit here for another ten minutes if you like.”  
“No, I am feeling calmer. Head right when you leave the estate, up the V-21 to the next junction, then across to the A-7, then off at the next junction then down on to the CV-300, head for Meliana, from there we go to Roca-Cruper.”  
Nile removes her hand with a final squeeze and starts the car.

“Where am I going In Roca-Cuper?” Nile asks as they drive into another tiny village ringing the outside of Valencia.  
“There” Nicky tells her, pointing at the first junction. Andy and Joe are waiting on the street leaning on the railings outside a church, Joe is pointing up at the crosses on the wall and Andy is shaking her head at him. Nile brings the car to a stop, Andy and Joe climb in the back and Nile drives off before they are belted in, turning the car back the way she came into the village, breaking a couple of traffic laws at the empty junction. At the next road that does not look like farm access, Nile turns left then left again. When they get to a beautifully decorated building a few minutes later Andy has them pull into the car park. Joe reaches for Nicky, he is whispering but it’s in English so Nile feels no guilt in listening. “You are doing well my all, your breathing is normal, your blood follows stead under my fingers.”  
“Not if you keep that up.'' Nicky touches their heads together. “Nile is good at helping me. I am calmer.”  
“Thank you, Nile” Joe tells her.  
“Well if you are not going to implode on us Nicky, get out of my seat.” Andy is opening her door.  
Nicky looks like he is going to be stubborn about moving, until Joe says. “Come sit next to me My all, I can hold you better.”  
Nicky swaps seats with Andy and Joe takes his hand.  
Nile checks they are all buckled in and it’s clear to go before driving off, back up the way they came. “Back to the apartment?”  
“Yes, turn left in three round-a-bouts. Then left, when we get to the big boulevard in Valencia, you should find it from there.”  
“I don’t know what stranger, that you sound like a sat-nav or that you have memorized the map at some point in the last two day.” Nile tells him.  
Andy snorts.  
“I like maps.” Comes from Nicky at the same time at Joe’s “It’s a very useful skill.”

Back at the apartment Andy wanders around looking in cupboards until declaring that there is no alcohol for her to drink so she is taking Nile to the bar. Joe and Nicky had better have made lasagna, when they get back in a few hours. Nicky tells her they are eating in three, if she is there or not. 

Andy walks Nile into the third bar she comes to, directing Nile to a table before ordering a beer each and a whisky for herself before sitting down. Nile slips the beer, it’s a Spanish one and it tastes good. Neither of them speak, and the server brings them both a plate of ribs.  
“Joe’s lasagna is good, but I miss this kind of stuff when I am with them. I saw the packets in the fridge, so I thought you might too.”  
“Thanks Andy.”  
“You did well today, kid.”  
“I could have done better.”   
Andy finishes ending a rib, waving the bone at Nile as she speaks “Booker did not notice the first time Nicky had an episode with him or did not do anything about it. Booker was drunk, hurting from his son's death, the middle one. Joe took days to settle him.” Andy eats another rib, “I stabbed him. In my defense I thought he had been poisoned and felt a quick death was better than a slow one.”  
Nile huffs a laugh and shakes her head. “Killing us is not the solution to the problem, every time.  
“It is sometimes” Andy counters with a smile.  
“Does Nicky. “ Nile starts, “Does Nicky hear or see things only he can?”  
“Other than your God?”  
“No. Yes, Maybe, does god speak to Nicky, like a friend or a person in the room?”  
“No, Nicky is not touched, he just has bad days.”  
“Does he have days when he is up? Stays awake, does lots of things, is very lively, can’t settle?”  
“You have met Nicky, that’s not him, not even when we tried amphetamines.”  
“Of course you have tried all the drugs, so it’s just panic attacks and anxiety, nothing else.”  
“He is a moody little shit, but even the episodes will stop in a few weeks, he has a bad day like this maybe once or twice a year. He said he could cope this morning and he has with your help.”  
“Did I make it worse, checking on everyone last night.”  
“No. Nicky had a nightmare of his own, he has lots, part of Nicky is always wanting to know things. So, there is a part of him that wants to know what the test will find, that is interested and remembers the result. “  
“Well that just shit.”  
Andy snorts. “He is who he is, if our Nicky was not a scholar he would be some else.” Andy finishes her food and whiskey. She swallows half her beer. “I told You Nicky is a volcano, sometimes they explode and turn the sky into the ground, backing out the sun for days. Sometimes they destroy the island and everything around it. Sometimes they shake the land and make steam, but nothing more. Joe tried to vent off some steam to stop the bubbling underneath but this is all shaking land, annoying, sometimes dangerous but in the end survivable.”  
“If Nicky is a volcano, what is Joe?”  
“Some kind of fox? Smart, fun and not at tame as you think.”   
Nile laughs at that, she drains her beer. Andy finishes her beer, getting up to go to the bar again, she gets another whiskey and two more beers. Nile gives her a pointed look as she sits back down.  
“Last one. I am not getting drunk.”  
Nile takes her beer, looking around the bar, no one stands out to her.  
“Male or female?” Andy asks.  
“What?”  
“Your preference” Andy asks then tilts her head. “You’re not married, are you a virgin, Nicky’s god has rules on sex”  
Nile face darkens, “No, not a virgin, not a lot of experience and not that interested in getting much more, it’s kind of boring.” Her voice is defiant, she had this conversion before.  
“I disagree with you on that” Andy shrugs “but that just leaves more for me.”.  
Nile smiles, drinks her beer.   
“We should get desert on the way back.” Nile tells Andy “let Joe and Nicky bet us at cards after dinner, eat dessert, them make Joe read us poems until we fall asleep”  
“Good plan Kid.” Andy salutes Nile with her beer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it seems like I am being mean to Nicky. The way I see him as the thoughtful one, that thinking is going to have an effect on him and as a sniper, wanting to be in control is going to be upsetting when he can't just make the feelings go away. So he has all this emotion under the surface and occasionally it comes to the top.  
> As for why they push him when he is having a bad day?  
> A) He said he could handle it.  
> B) They are testing Nile, this is a challenge to see how she does.  
> Nile has been a little lost and feeling a bit sorry for her self in the last few chapters, she is getting back on form. Finding her self and her place.
> 
> Anyway thank you for all your kudos and for reading.


	8. Day Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A relaxed day with some light exercise.  
> Or  
> Nile goes for a run and then learns some moves.  
> Andy is no good at comfort.  
> Nicky is coping.  
> Or  
> This is the first day they truly relax with out waiting for someone to get them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and all my kudos.  
> I am still writing this, it will just take me sometime.

Day Eight

Nile is not sure if it is the sound of the rubbish truck in the street or Nicky moving that wakes her, but he and her are both sat on the sofa where they had fallen asleep, Andy is curled up in one arm chair, Joe on the other, book still in his hand. Nicky lays back down head in her lap and she strokes his hair like they were doing before they fell asleep last night. Nicky eyes close, then open again. Nicky takes her wrist looking at her watch.  
“What time is it?” Nile asks him.  
“Early.” Nicky mumbles, wiggling like he is settling to go to sleep..  
Nile laughs, stroking his hair again. “If you go back to sleep, I will plait your hair.”   
Nicky waves his hand to say whatever, he pretends to be sleeping but Nile can see the start of a smile.  
“We should wake Andy. She will be stiff sleeping in the chair.”  
“She likes sleeping in chairs.” Nicky sounds more awake then he is acting.  
“Immortal Andy liked sleeping in chairs, mortal Andy will be sore.”  
“Mortal Andy can hear you.”  
“Morning Boss.” Nicky sounds cheerful.  
Andy moans, “I don’t know what is more annoying, cheerful Nicky, feeling aches and stiffness everywhere or the fact Nile is right.”  
“I just remember being mortal better than the rest of you, Andy.” Nile is trying not to sound smug or confrontational, but points to her for calling it.  
Nicky stands up, stretches, Andy glares like that is being added to the list, “Nile is going to be our mortal expert for a while Andy. Don’t take offence if she is right about things, I will get you some ibuprofen, coffee?”  
“Please, do you need a hand.” Nile asks.  
Nicky waves his hand as a dismissal, kissing Joe on the forehead as he passes.  
Nile looks out the window, it’s another bright sunny day, the room is so calm and peaceful, Nile feels content and relaxed. Nile is just happy to float in this feeling until Nicky returns.  
Nicky comes back in balancing two plates on top of two mugs in each hand. Placing the mugs on the coffee table and removing the plates Nicky hands out coffee and offers the women bread with jelly or cheese on, before he wakes Joe. Joe makes a couple of twitches and sounds which seem to satisfy Nicky before he sits back down, after removing the ibuprofen from his pocket and tossing the packet onto Andy's lap.  
“Careful” Andy warns him “Hot coffee can hurt me.”  
Nicky just smiles at her.  
“Nicky?” Joe questions sleepy, twitching his fingers.  
“Here, my love.”  
“Bene.” Joe tries to turn and reach for Nicky, he is stopped by the arm of the chair, the book falling to the floor, Joe then finally opens his eyes, a confused expression on his face as he tries to work out what is going on. Nile holds back a laugh at him not wanting to break the mood, Andy is looking at him with a soft fondness, Nicky's gaze is full of adoration. After an age Joe reaches full power, “Morning, is there coffee for me?” Nicky points to the table, “My all, you are a true hero among men.” Joe sits back with his coffee breathing in the steam.  
They sit in silence drinking and eating, it’s a restful peace that none of them seem to want to break. Nicky takes their cups for a refill, choosing to sit with Joe on his return.  
Nile has been thinking. “Does anyone know when Thursday is?”  
“Not sure.” Says Joe, “I have lost track.” They way Nicky leans back into him tells Nile where they may have lost time.  
“Tomorrow.” Andy tells her.  
“Okay.” Nile waits a beat, now for the hard question, she hopes she phrases it right. “I would like to go for a run, in the Turia park, there is a running trail, I would run on that, where I could, I would like to go before it gets too hot. By myself. Is there any issue with that that any of you can think of?” There she is telling them what she wants, firm but not an order, space for objections, she is looking mostly at Nicky. Nicky looks back at her, Joe over his shoulder smiling like she did good.  
“Are we doing feelings?” Andy sounds distasteful.  
“Practicalities and Feelings.” Nile clarifies.   
“I have no issue, I can’t join you anyway.” Andy grumbles.  
“You are healing very well Andy, some stretching, maybe a couple of sets of forms for now.” Nicky tells her.  
“I hate forms, I like sparing.”  
“Boss.” Joe sounds upset.  
“I am not going to do any sparing until Doctor Nicolo says I can.” Nile does not know why Andy’s meanness is so reassuring, but it works on Nicky and Joe too.  
“You can teach Nile some forms.” Nicky suggests.   
Andy hum is non committal.  
“I am not happy about it.” Nicky admits taking Joe’s hand and playing with his rings, Joe makes an indefinable noise. “I don’t like us being apart. But I know we must and I trust you to come back and I know you would not go if you did not feel safe.” Nicky has spoken mostly to his and Joe’s hands not looking at Nile.  
“See you can talk about how you feel.” Nile praises him, moving to his end of the sofa. “How big is the park?”  
“Um” Nicky has to think, Nile can see him bring up the map in his head, his eyes go out of focus, his fingers twitch “about 7 KM, if you don’t go into Cabecera park at the north end.”  
“How will I know if I do that?” Nile asks, slowly moving her hand toward his.  
Nicky thinks, “There are no more bridges to go under and a lake.”  
Nile loops her pinky finger under his. “It’s a river bed so it’s flat, I do a KM in about 5 minutes. So 14km is an hour and ten, ten minutes to get there and back, ten minutes grace, so if I am not back in an hour and a half you can look for me. I’ll go out the front door, straight to the park, run north till I run out of bridges, south until I run out of park, back to the point I came in and back here. Okay?” Nicky is playing with her and Joe’s fingers, she thinks he nods, Nile looks to Joe.  
“Sounds good, Nile” he smiles, pulling Nicky closer still to him. “Thank you.”  
Nile goes to get changed and brush her teeth, as she passes though the sitting room, Joe and Nicky are talking quietly curled up together, Andy is in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water, on the counter is a little bottle of vitamin pills, with ‘Andy’ written on the lid. Andy shrugs, “Nicky worries. You know he's going to be down stairs, if not on the street.”  
“I’ll just have to be fast, see if this body gets tried or I can keep up a great pace.” Nile replies, filling an old bottle with water.  
Andy makes a couple of noises like the start of words. “Nicky is not normally so needy, we won’t baby him forever.”  
“Nicky not being babied Andy.” Nile is harsh but keeps her voice low so the guys will not hear. “He is dealing with trauma and grief. He is not weak. I am trying to help him keep calm and reduce his anxiety.”  
“I know.” Andy shoots back, “I mean he will get better, we-he is not always like this.”  
Nile catches the word slip, she takes a deep breath and lets out her anger, “I’ll be back, I’ll take care, send the guys to look for me if you want, you can be worried about me too.”  
“Shut up.” Andy pouches her shoulder. “We’ll do forms when you come back, hand to hand, ax and then sword.”  
“Okay Andy.”   
Nile shouts “I’m leaving” when she gets to the door, knowing both Andy and Nicky have started the clock..

Nile starts slow as she heads down the street, waiting until the crosswalk light is green to cross the road, using the time to do a few stretches. It’s a little after six and there are people around on the street and cars about, as Nile leaves the ramp into the park, she speeds up. The first few runners Nile passes look at her before giving a nod or smile. Nile sees other people doing this as they pass each other, Nile thinks it must be customary politeness here, so she does the same, it gives her a little feeling of belonging every time. There are people with dogs in the dog parks and mothers with small children in the play park, there is even a soccer game going on on the pitch. Eventually the park seems to move to her left with a lake in front of her, Nile can’t see any more bridges up ahead so she heads to the far side of the park back under the last bridge. She passes a running group heading the other way, all middle aged women, going slower than most of the people she has so far encountered, she gives some waves to them as she passes in encouragement and a thumbs up to the ladies at the back and gets big smiles in return. She overtakes a couple of people, until a guy speeds to to keep pace with her, they race for a bit until Nile is going flat out and she has to stop at the next bridge to get her breath back, the guy stops a little way off, fiddling with his watch, Nile’s Spanish is good enough to understand his “Thanks, I just got a personal best” and reply “your welcome” before she sets off again. There are some interesting buildings to the south of the park, she wonders what Joe and Nicky will make of them. Shortly after she runs out of park and heads back toward the apartment. She follows a water way until it becomes a Pool with a huge statue of a man, then carries on past a mini golf, a long fountain that shoots water into the air in a pattern, then under the bridge covered in flowers and back up the ramp to her street. The crosswalk is green so Nile goes for it. Nile slows as she gets to the door for the apartment, checking her watch and she has been an hour and seventeen minutes, she is happy with that time and her legs don’t feel like jello, her feet don’t hurt and she is no longer gasping for breath. Inside the building, Nicky is sitting on the bottom steps of the stairs, looking at a watch, in his hands, a towel over his arm, cup at his feet.  
“I thought you would be at the ramp.” Nile tells him, taking the towel, to rub her face.  
“You had three minutes before I moved.” Nicky hands her the cup swapping it for the water bottle, “there is more upstairs.”  
Nile takes a slip, banana and peanut butter smoothie, “Joe is right you're a hero among men.”  
Nicky blushes, “Is the way to a woman’s heart the same as a man’s?”  
“In the abdomen, push up under the ribs?”   
Nicky laughs, he stands and they head up the stairs, Nile is not going to ask about how they all have been avoiding the lifts, besides she has been sweating and that's a small space.  
When Nicky opens the door to the apartment Nile hears Joe shout, “You can just replace the wheel and you don’t have to feed them.”  
“What are you arguing about?” Nile calls to them as she goes to get more smoothie from the kitchen, Nicky heads straight to the living room.  
“Nicky, horses or bikes which is better?”  
“While horses are great creatures, they are creatures, if I never have to hear the sounds of one in pain on the battlefield again, I will be happy, So, bikes.”  
“No one ever rode into battle on a bike.” Andy counters.  
“You don’t have to feed them, clean up after them, stable them, tend to them, train them, put them out of there pain when they are hurt. Bikes are better transport.”  
“That’s the same points Joe makes, the feel of a horse under you, responding to your movies, the way you can just let them go and do something else in the saddle. They are a part of you.” Nile wonders how Andy and Joe can argue while doing movements that look like yoga, the sofa and chairs have been moved against the far wall, the dining table and chairs pushed against the near one to create an open space.  
“Nile, which is best to ride, Horse or Bike?” Joe asks her.  
“Um,” Nile does not know how to answer, she ducks her head mumbling. “I haven’t, so I can’t compare.”  
“You have never ridden a horse?” Andy stops mid-movement and overbalances, Joe catches her before she topples over. “Never?!”  
Nicky has not taken his eyes off Nile, watching her, not them. “Boss, horses were rarely used for transport when we were last in the states and that was before her parents were born.”  
“Until I got to Afghanistan I had not spent any time with any horses in real life.” Nile adds.  
Andy glares at Nicky like this is his fault.  
“We can teach her, Boss, it will be fun, us riding, we could do a mountain pass, you like those.” Joe seems a little panicked at Andy’s stillness, his hands still holding her. Andy turns to him and gives him a little shove. “We can add it to the list.” Andy agrees.  
Nile takes a deep breath, she might as well get this over with “Money was tight growing up and my Mom did not like us playing outside unsupervised when I was little and then Dad died and the neighborhood was bad and, well anyway, I never learnt to ride a bike either.”  
She looks up there is no harsh judgement in anyone's eyes, they are not acting like anyone else when she confesses to them this secret.   
“It will take about an hour to learn, Nile, bikes are much more comfortable and easier to use than they were when we learnt.” Joe is dismissive, of her worries, taking up a stance again.  
“I am glad we missed penny farthings, they looked dangerous.” Nicky agrees.  
“Can we all agree, horses are better than camels.” Andy mirrors Joe form.  
“Yes, of course, the question is where do elephants fit on the scale?” Nicky asks.  
Then Nile got it, these people had to learn to ride a bike as adults, they did not exist when they were children, they don’t get that Nile missed out on something, they did too.  
“So, camels, elephants, horses, bikes, yes.” Joe says.  
“Agreed.” Says Nicky.  
“You would agree with Joe.” Andy grumbles.  
“Only when he is right.” Nicky says, “Your arm is too low.”  
“It pulls my stitches” Andy points out  
“Sorry.” Nicky sounds embarrassed  
“Harass Nile.” Andy tells him.   
“This is not hand to hand, ax or sword forms” Nile tells Andy, she hopes she is right, cos this looks hard.  
Andy snorts and overbalances bring her foot down so keep from falling.  
“Three more Boss, can you manage it?” Joe teases.  
“I can do anything you can do.” Andy sing-songs back at him, taking position again. They more though three more poses before stopping. Nicky returns from the kitchen with a smoothie for Joe and water for Andy.  
“Have you upset Nicky, Andy?” Nile asks, seeing the water glass.  
“No” Andy smiles around the glass. “I don’t like the taste of the Cavandish cultivar. It tastes like sweetened mush.”  
“I don’t” Nile starts and then sees Joe doing a countdown with his fingers.  
“You are mean to the woman” Nicky scolds them both, but he has an air of happiness around him. “The banana’s you buy from the shops are all of the cavendish cultivar, it is made to keep in transit and not bruise easily, it tastes sweeter than naturally occurring fruit. They also don’t have seeds. Most shop bought fruit is a cultivar made for the same reasons.”   
“Modern fruit does not taste like the fruit of my youth.” Andy finishes her drink, handing the glass to Nicky.  
“Nor mine.” Joe added, “and it has changed color.”  
“Do not get me started on carrots.” Nicky collects the glasses from Joe and Nile.  
“What have carrots done?”  
“They should be purple!” Nicky calls from the kitchen.  
“Or red or yellow, in our youth you get all three colors, sometimes at the same time, mostly when we were around the Black Sea. Nicky used to do this very pretty dish when that happened.”  
“The roast thing? I liked that, very colorful.” Andy nods her head.  
“Now you just get orange and they don’t taste the same.” Joe sounds disappointed.  
“Right Nile, stand here.” Andy points to a spot next to her, “punch-blocks, punches, kick blocks, kicks.” Nile stands next to Andy, rolling her shoulders.  
Andy shows her block with her left forearm to protect her face, then the same with her right, then to protect her chest and then to each side, Joe corrects her arm and stance placement a couple of times, these forms are not quite the same as the Marines taught her. They do some grabs, then a block where Joe keeps correcting her hand and she does not get it until Nicky puts the knife in her hand. Andy has numbered them one to sixteen, she has Nile run through the lot five times with her, by which time Andy is wincing. Andy leans against the table and calls out numbers for a few minutes. After conferring with Joe about Nile’s form they get her and Nicky to face-off. Andy calls a number and Nicky punches at her in a way she should be able to block. Nicky gets a few hits in at the beginning and they hurt, he is not softening any blows. But Nile blocks ten in a row and Andy and Joe seem pleased. Nicky asks Nile to punch his hand, he catches her fist twisting it to look at her finger position, Nicky drops her hand with a nod and gesture for her to do the same with the other hand, he inspects that fist too. Andy comes to stand next to Nile, showing her some punches, blows with the side of her fist, slaps with the palm of her hand and jabs with finger and elbows, each one gets a letter using up the Latin alphabet and onto the Cyrillic one. Andy runs through the lot with her twice, then Joe takes over for two more runs. Then there is ten minutes of calling out letters and Nile gets confused on the Cyrillic names the first few times more than the moves themselves, most of this was not taught by the Marine Corp. Some of it. Nile suspects, is plain street fighting. Nile is out of breath by the end of the ten minutes. Nicky gives her a minute to recover before they face off. Andy calls letters and tries to land a blow, Nicky blocks everything, Andy calls combinations of blows and Nicky blocks them too although it’s closer, Nile brushes a check and an ear, but it’s the best she can do and Nile starts getting frustrated. Then a little sloppy and finally she does her own combination instead of Andy’s prompt, which Nicky blocks, capturing her in a hold as she tries to elbow him.  
Joe puts his hands on the side of Nile’s head as she struggles, making her look at him. “You are doing better than Booker did,” Nile stops fighting more at the twitch that she can feel from Nicky then Joe's words. “the first time we ran through this with him. It helps that you have some training.” Joe loosens his grip, “Nile we are going to be better than you, we have been doing this for a long time and before guns, knowing hand to hand combat was a matter of life and death. You are taught to disarm, to get away long enough to shoot, to let someone else have a shot. We learn to kill people, to kill each other, survive. It’s different.”  
“Are you going to be calm?” Nicky asks from behind her.  
Nile tries to nod but Joe is still holding her head. “Yes.” She grits out past her teeth.  
“Good.” Nicky lets go and steps back, then Joe lets go of her head. “Wash the blood off your arms and have a drink of water”  
Nile looks at her arms and sees blood but she doesn't know what the injury was, let alone when it happened, no wonder they guys reacted like that. Nile takes a couple of breaths and goes to wash her arms in the kitchen sink, Andy follows her to the door, watching as she cleans up.  
“You didn’t notice did you?”  
“No Andy I didn’t” Nile stares at her arms, the water long since gone clear, there is not a trace of any marks.  
“You okay to carry on?” Andy is turning off the taps.  
“With this or everything.” Nile asks, swaying toward Andy before stopping.  
Andy pulls her into a one-armed hug, “With this, today, everything else is going to happen your wants be damned.”  
Nile huffs out a laugh, “You’re not very good at this comfort thing.”  
“I am the Boss, I assign the jobs, that one is Nicky’s”   
Nile laughs for real and Andy gives her a little shake before letting her go. Nile fills a glass with water and drinks half of it in one go, “Okay, let’s do this.”  
“Good girl.” Andy's praise is sincere.  
When they come into the sitting room Nile think’s Joe and Nicky are dancing at first, as they go through the forms she has just learnt with a speed and grace she has no hope of matching. Nicky letting Joe capture him in the same hold Nicky had held her, only it looks much more tender when they do it.  
“Boss, tell my all, that he would never have killed me that time if I had not slipped.”  
“I am not wading into your whole murderer-flirting thing that happened nearly eighty years before I met you.”  
“I was not flirting.” Nicky and Joe say at the same time.  
“Nile, using a rock to bash in someone's head when they are already impaled on pieces of wood, is unfair.” Joe tries to get her support, Andy, who has moved behind Joe, shakes her head.  
“I could not say. I was not there at the time.” Nile does her best diplomatic voice.  
“If the rock does not count then what about the time you used a helmet?“ Nicky rounds on Joe.  
“Well.”  
“Did you even remove the other man's head?” Nicky points a finger at Joe, Joe takes a breath to speak, then thinks, then shugs.  
“KIck-blocks” Andy orders clapping her hands, “there are only a dozen.”  
Andy numbers these in Spanish, not even finishing the second run though before Joe takes over. Nile gets three minutes into blocking Nicky before they both hear a snap from her leg. Nicky helps lower to the floor, holding her hand he counts slowly down to zero, her leg does not hurt and she can’t feel bone moving about. “It was, most probably a cracked bone, it should be healed enough for you to stand on it. Ready?”  
Nile pushes herself on one leg as Nicky pulls her up, she puts weight gingerly on the broken leg but it’s fine, no pain at all.  
Andy is holding her side by the time she has finished showing Nile some kicks, naming sounds Nile can't identify but can distinguish. Joe goes through the five sets with her and then Andy calls out kicks to Nicky. Again he blocks everything, putting her on the floor a few times. Andy does not let it go on for as long as with punches, stopping before Nile gets annoyed.  
“Well done, Nile” Joe pats her shoulder.  
Nicky comes back from the cupboard in the entry with a broom and a mop handle, he hands one to Nile, the other to Joe.  
“We do not know what type of sword you will favor, so I will just go over the basics that are common to all short swords, okay”  
“Okay” Nile grips the broom handle, Joe corrects her hands and then her stance. Joe shows Nile ten moves, it takes three runs to get her to manage all ten without correction, by the time Nile has done five good runs her sides and shoulders hurt. The ache goes once she stands still for a second.  
Andy only shows Nile five moves with the ax before she has to stop, Nile gets the forms correct and does two runs before Andy stops her, to hand her the ax, letting Nile try the forms with the correct weight and it is very different. Nile is tired at the end and hungry, her tummy rumbles.  
“We will stop, I think.” Nicky says. “I will make lunch, you should shower.”  
Nile nods, handing the ax back to Andy, walking to the bathroom. As she turns, Nile sees Nicky checking Andy’s wound.

Nile hears the shower in the en-suite going when she gets out of her shower, then the bathroom shower starts up while she is getting dressed. The sitting room has been moved back to its original places and she can smell cooking spices coming from the kitchen. When Nile goes into the kitchen, where Nicky is making a stir-fry, her tummy rumbles again. Nicky shoves a plate with bread and honey on it, “Eat”  
“Grazie Nicky.”  
Nile has eaten two pieces by the time Joe hangs over her shoulder to grab a piece. Nicky takes the plate back. “Go lay the table.”   
Joe sneaks a kiss as he gets some cutlery. Nile brings two blows, Nicky the other two, to Andy and Joe sat at the table. Lunch is eaten without much talking, they are all hungry. 

Once she has cleared the table and done the washing up with Joe, Nicky taking the time to have a shower, Nile sits on the arm chair that is not Andy’s. Her watch says it just after eleven, leaving Nile wondering what to do with the rest of the day. Nicky brings fruit drinks for the four of them to the coffee table, Joe gets the notebook that Nile was writing question in off the shelf it ended up on the other night, Andy had gone to her room, with a book, after lunch, claiming she is going to read but they all know she is going to have a nap. Joe sits himself on the sofa, Nicky curls up next to him.  
“Let’s do the easy ones first,” Joe says. “Do limbs regrow? Yes, they will regrow, it’s painful and takes time, half an hour for the whole leg?”   
Nicky shakes his head, “longer, forty, forty-five minutes plus revival time which might be as much as 5 minutes. Reattachment is faster and less painful, once you have revived, or before you die of blood loss.”  
“Does your head grow back? No, reattachment is that only thing that works, but it does work. Can we get food poisoning? Yes. It can kill you. Can we get ill? Yes, not as often, we don’t get colds or ‘flu very often.”   
“We got Spanish ‘flu, I think that was the last time.” Nicky adds.  
“The Black Death, plague, dysentery, cholera, Booker got measles in the 1870’s, Nicky and I have had pox's and flu’s that I don’t know the modern names for. We die and get better or it runs it course and we get better. Do we get hypothermia? Yes, mostly in cold water and we warm up quickly. Heatstroke? Yes I think so, but maybe only once or twice, it’s rare. Snow blind? Maybe, we have become disorientated in blizzards, but not what others have called snow blindness. Nicky what do these words mean?”  
Nicky looks at the book, “STI, is sexully transmitted infection, Not that I am aware of Andy and Booker have never complained of syphilis or VD or anything else. Anaphylactic shock is” Nicky thinks “You remember when Quyhn ate those mushrooms and then her throat closed up and he could not get any air, yes,” Joe nods “that. Frostbite is when cells are frozen and then destroyed by the ice inside them, it leads to gangrene.” Nicky turns from Joe to Nile “We do not get frostbite but we can become frozen, it is a very strange sensation hard to put into words, you stop being cold and it is a bit like floating and a bit like being asleep but you are also awake, you can not move and you do not care that you can not. I do not recommend it.”  
Joe continues on, “Do we get cancer, No. Can we get fat? Yes, a bit of a tummy but we have never gotten huge, but then we have never allowed ourselves to get much softer than that, even when we are taking a few years off, we must still be ready to leave should anything happen. Can we increase muscle? We can get better definition but we do not get massive muscle, we come back to how we were when we first died, we do not change much. Does our hair grow? Yes. Do fingernails grow? Yes and toenails too. Does other hair grow, will I still have to shave? Yes, Nicky and Booker both have to shave, but you do not have a beard, what hair do you have to shave?” Nicky whispers something to Joe, “But why?” Joe asks him.  
“Fashion.” Nicky replies.   
Joe shrugs. “Can we be poisoned? Yes. Do drugs work on us? Yes, I do not know about medicines but they gave us drugs to sleep at Merick’s lab, the gases they used worked, recreation drugs work, let Andy tell you about the time she took ecstasy. Can we get addicted? I do not know, dependent maybe, Booker does drink but it does not affect his work. I can not say if he is addicted.” Joe looks to Nicky, who shakes his head. “What was Martin Luther King like? Well he was a passionate speaker, believed in what he was saying, he had an aurora about him and you wanted to do right by him. Only met him once in person, although we heard him speak many times, he gave an energy to you when you heard his words, a natural leader.” Nicky agrees but does not add anything. “Did you meet Malcolm X? Yes, we met him three times?” Nicky makes an affirmative noise “in ‘65, he was similar to Dr King with his passion, drive and leadership but he had more combative energy, and he was more open to debate at the speaking engagements we encountered him at. Which was fun for Nicky” Joe nudges Nicky with his arm.   
“I was not the only person debating with him and the third time we met, he called me over to talk to some other people, which was fun but also the last time we could be there, getting too well known is no good for us.” Both men are quiet for a bit, thinking. Joe takes a mouthful of his drink. “There is a list of names, I will say yes or no, or this will take all day, Did we ever meet: Slavidor Dali? No. Picasso? Yes. Cezanne? Yes. Monet? Yes. Vermeer? Yes. Van Gough? No. Leonardo da Vinci? No. Caravaggio? Yes. Ruben? No. Beethoven? No. Mozart? Yes. Bach? One of them, I forget which. Josephine Baker?” Joe pauses for a bit, “You mean the American singer and dancer who lived in Paris?” Nile nods “Yes, though the Deuxieme Bureau.”  
“The what?”  
“It was French military intelligence agency.” Nicky tells Nile “During World War Two.”  
“Nicky who is this?”  
“I am not sure? Nile tell me about this Vlad the Impaler.”  
“He is from Transylvania, they based Dracula on him, he liked to impale people I want to say like 1400 and something.”  
“Ah, Voivode Vlad the third of the bit of land north of the Danube.” Nicky does not sound certain.  
“Fought the Ottomans, was ruler three times?” Joe clarifies.  
“Yes.”  
“No we never met him, but we heard stories.” Joe looks at the notebook again “Catherine the great? No. Queen Elizabeth? of England?” Nile nods. “One no, two yes.”  
“We did?” Nicky has pulls away from Joe to look at him.  
“We had gone to SOE headquarters in London, it was raining, she was the driver of the staff car, gave us a lift, practiced her French on Booker. Met her at the dance later.”  
“You and Booker danced with her. Andy was flirting with her, trying to get her to dance.” Nicky questions.  
“Andy flirted with Queen Elizabeth of England, The Queen.” Nile shouts.  
“Andy did what?” Andy walks into the sitting room to glare at Nile.  
“Andy do you remember a dance in London during World war Two after we had been to the headquarters of the SOE, staff car driver Booker and I danced with.” Joe asks her.  
“Lillybeth or something like that, upper class girl, quite funny, not interested in the end.” Andy says after a think. “Why?”  
“She became the Queen of England.” Joe informs her.  
“Good for her.” Andy says dismissively.  
Nicky takes the notebook, “Have you been to every county?”  
“No, they keep inventing new one and changing names and borders, it's annoying.” Andy grumbles coming to sit on the arm of the sofa next to Joe.  
“Some of the Island nations in the Pacific have been out of our reach, too remote and now we are too memorable for anything other than tourism and it’s too risky for us.” Nicky adds.  
“Andy is right that the names change, big countries swallow up little ones, places gain independence, as well.” Joe finishes his drink. “A few more then we will go out for the afternoon, look around the Old town?” He nudges Nicky again. Nicky makes sound while keeping his head in the notebook.  
“I like that. Can we get ice cream?” Nile asks.  
“Of course” Nicky tells her with one of his half smiles.  
“If Nile is getting ice cream. I want wine and cake.” Andy informs them, running a hand from Joe’s neck to Nicky’s along their shoulders.  
“You can sit in a cafe in a square and have all the wine and cake you want.” Nicky tells her, looking Andy in the eye around Joe.  
Andy looks like she wants to argue some part of that statement or more likely the unspoken bit about her resting and not doing too much, then stops and ruffles Nicky’s hair.  
“Okay, Three more” Nicky pulls away from Andy toward the sofa’s other arm. “Have you ever been to Antarctica?”  
“Yes.” Andy and Joe chorus.  
“Is Atlantis real?”.  
“Before our time” Joe waves his hand between him and Nicky. Nicky looks at Andy, who sigh’s “Plato was making stuff up to prove a point. It is based on five or six cities, only two of which have been dug up and they are never going to find one of them, it’s under so much mud and water.”  
“Have you ever been on a submarine? That is a very odd question.” Nicky finishes with.  
“Well, I’ve guessed you've been on all the other transport but like subs are still rare.” Nile explains.  
“True, yes Joe and I have.”  
“Is there a story?”  
“No, you don’t get a story, I’m getting cake.” Andy starts pushing Joe off the sofa.  
“Yes Boss, we are moving. Come on Nile, up, shoes on.” Joe makes shooing motions at her and then pulls Nicky up. Andy is already at the door.

Andy leads them down the stairs, out the front door, down the street and across the bridge with stairs down to the park and a priest statue on each side on the old town end. Andy’s pace has been fast as if someone might stop her. Nile follows behind Nicky and Joe, until she comes to statues, Nile stops to have a look, crossing the road to look at the other one. When Nile has finished her inspection Joe and Nicky are waiting for her on either side of the bridge entrance and Andy is in the shadow of the building inside the old town. Nicky holds out his elbow for her to loop her arm into when she gets to him, which Nile takes. When Joe does the same to Andy she shoves him off the sidewalk, both of them laughing. The old town is made of tight streets and narrow alleys, tall buildings and open squares. They come to a square with a pool of water in the middle, under the water is glass. When Nile leans over the edge to get a better look below the glass that Nile can see old buildings, little more than ruins all cleaned up and preserved with modern walkway over them..  
“Do you think we could have a look at the buildings? You must be able to get there, I can see people?” Nile looks up at Nicky, he looks to Joe. Nile remembers that Joe lived here before all this was built and she might be looking at the town he knew, which could be emotional for him. “Or not if it is going to be an issue.”  
Nile can see Andy come up behind her on the other side to Nicky out the corner of her eye. “I am beginning to think you are their child somehow, you are the perfect mix of Nicky and Joe.” Nile can feel Andy’s hand on her head trying to push her face in the water, Nile pushes against the pressure, pulling with her arms back on to the edge until she can duck under Andy’s hand and stand up. Andy is smiling at her. She hears Joe puff out some air and Nicky is looking around. Nicky points to a building, “That appears to be the entrance.”   
Joe nods, stealing himself with a couple of breaths, before he brushes past Nicky giving his hand a quick squeeze. Nile and Andy follow behind. To Nile astonishment it turns out the ruins are Roman and Joe relaxes, happy to wander around teasing Andy about something in Latin that has Nicky giving half smiles. “If I translated it for you, I would probably then spend two hours explain context and phrasing and then you still would not get the joke.” Nicky tells her, when Nile sighs, looking at them.  
“It’s okay, I get it, you are being very considerate of me and my shitty language skills.”  
“Your language skills will improve. I am slow to learn and forgetful of any languages I do not use. Joe is our linguist. Booker is okay at European ones, but anything else he can not get his tongue around. Andy had forgotten more languages that I know. Your Spanish is coming along, nicely.”  
“Don’t judge myself against people that have been doing this forever. Got it” She sighs looking at Nicky. “Last time I saw my brother, I went out with him and some of his friends, they were talking English but it was all memes and catchphrases. I could not follow the conversation. I felt so old and out of touch. I miss him. We used to talk about going on this big trip, seeing Roman sites and castles and it was this fantasy for two poor kids from Chicago. I want to tell him what I have seen.”  
Nicky puts his arm around Nile’s shoulders and kisses her forehead. “Grief is a part of life. Missing people is the cost of loving them.”  
“Still sucks.”  
“Yes.”  
Nile pulls away and keeps walking around, it is interesting, and she is going to be a tourist when she gets the chance.  
When they leave a short while later, they follow the crowd to the next square, this square has seats for cafes on one side that Andy makes a beeline for, Nile wanders with Joe and Nicky over to the fountain with all the statues. Joe walks over to a little seating area under some trees, when Nile comes back around from the other side of the fountain, Joe is gone. She can still see Nicky and Andy, neither of which look panicked so she keeps calm and Joe reapers, rushing over to Nicky, talking animatedly. Nile walks over to Andy, who now has a glass of wine and churro looking things. “You have any ideas, kiddo?”  
“Nicky said; Joe said the town was roughly laid out the same as when he lived here and they had not explored everywhere. I guess Joe recognized something.”  
“Sit down, see if they remember us.”  
Nicky comes over to them very quickly, before Nile can sit down, Joe following on behind. “Joe believes he has worked out where we are, he wishes to see if we can find his old house.”  
“I doubt it’s still standing but roughly the area of the place.” Joe looks about placing buildings.  
“I am staying put.” Andy waves her wine glass.  
“I would like to play tourist.” Nile says hopefully, “and eat ice cream”  
Nicky takes a beat to think. “You have your phone and money?”  
“Yes and a knife.”  
Nicky smiles. “We will all meet back here when at 1800 hrs, I do not like the idea of you walking about alone when it is dark.”  
Andy snorts.  
“Okay, see you two in a few hours. Bye Andy.” Nile leaves the table before they can stop her, going to the ice cream shop on the square’s corner, not looking back at any point. Nile watches in a reflection as Joe and Nicky move away, picking the other direction to walk in. She finds the Silk exchange which is an amazing piece of medieval architecture built for the use of traders in the city. Nile wanders around the rooms and the courtyard garden, finding this room upstairs with an unbelievable painted wooden ceiling. It’s from later than when Joe was based here but she still imagines him moving about the rooms. Nile walks to a park with the entrance to the cathedral and a tall bell tower that used to be a minaret according to the signs. Looking down one side of the cathedral she can see the square where she left Andy. Nile is happy she is not too lost. Nile goes into what was an old bath house, it’s not like the spa she went to with Joe, but she still can not work out why Nicky dislikes the places, this one seems well made and clean. She finds a couple of buildings with Gothic and heavily decorated fronts and some medieval frescoes. Nile spends some time looking at the very distinctive way people and animals were drawn wondering if Joe drew like this and if he did when he changed to the realistic style he uses now. Nile enters a church by accident getting confused by what Basilica means, her mind on other things. Once inside she has to stare at the ceiling for twenty minutes, due to the amount of art up there. Nile gets caught looking that when she checks her watch she only has ten minutes to get back to Andy, going out the opposite door to the one she came in, Nile finds herself in the fountain square so is back with Andy before her time is up. Joe and Nicky come around the corner just as Nile sits down. There is a strange air between the two of them as they sit down, not that they have been fighting; they are too close to each other, too relaxed for that but not loose and happy either. A waiter brings a tray of coffee, horchata and the curro things for the three of them and a drink for Andy, pressed lemon she tells Nile when asked.  
“Did you find the house?” Nile asks once the waiter leaves.  
“Yes, the footprint of it, my building has gone. I pointed out some other places.”  
“Anything I need to worry about?” Andy waves her hand between the two of them.  
“No, just feeling old. Nostalgic.” Joe is relaxing in his seat turning slowly toward Nicky.  
“I found out something that will put Nicky into a beautiful little snit.” Andy says with a smile to Joe.  
“How are we upsetting my all?” Joe replies conspiratorially.  
“Apparently, the cathedral has Nicky’s Christ’s Holy Grail.”  
Nile has to laugh at Nicky’s face which settles on a look of doubt after morphing some expressions.  
“Who tells you such lies.” Joe asks he shoulder just coming in front of Nicky, unconsciously moving to protect him.  
“You are not the only one that can get Human intel, Joe.” Andy waits a beat then admits, “the waiter, he says the place is open to tourists until 2000 hrs in the summer.”  
“I am sure it is fake my all” Joe turns to Nicky but Nile can hear his excitement.  
“It’s not like it is a real thing anyway, the Holy Grail, it’s a metaphor or..” Nile trails off under Nicky’s glare. “You think it’s a real thing.”  
“I do not think, I know.” Nicky's voice is hard.  
“Nicky’s God leaves a lot of shiny Holy relics laying around. Sometimes two or more of the same thing.”  
“It is our belief in them that makes them Holy, Andy. Same as your people's belief in you made you a god.” Angry Nicky does not pull punches.  
“Told you, look at him all in a snit.” Andy sounds cheerful in Nicky’s glare.  
“We shall take a look at this relic.” Nicky agrees, finally, taking his coffee from the table and offering Andy his pastry. Andy refuses, “I have had several and unlike you three I can get fat.”  
Nicky nods, pulling back his plate, tension leaving his posture. Nile has some of her drink and tries the not-churro, it’s okay.  
“We are not going to steal it, are we?” Nile asks, just to check, she is fine with her life being like some action movie but she doesn't want to be in that one.  
Joe laughs, “No, why would you think that.”  
“I was just checking.”

The Holy Grail is in a side room off the main part of the cathedral, in a niche behind glass surrounded by gold work. It is all very elaborate for a very plain wooden cup. Nicky sits on a chair between Joe and Nile, just looking at it. Nile reads the little information leaflet she got, passing it to Joe when she is done.   
“Do you think it’s The Holy Grail?” Nile asks in the end.  
“If enough people believe it is then it does not matter the truth of it.” Nicky says.  
“Do you believe it is?”  
“I don’t know.” Nicky sounds unsure, there is want in his voice. Joe gives her a smile, he is as close to Nicky as he can get without touching.  
“I am going to look at the rest of the place.” Nile tells them.  
“We will be here.” Joe tells her.  
Nile is impressed by all the stonework, she likes some of the painting too. She finds Andy lighting candles in one of the chapels. Nile raises an eyebrow.  
“Most gods like fire.”  
“If you say so Andy.”  
“I do.” Andy falls in next to Nile as they loop around the cathedral again.  
“Are you trying to force reset Nicky?” Nile asks.  
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”  
“Words or sentiment?” Nile clarifies.  
“Words.”  
“Are you trying to get Nicky to stop his current state of mind and go back to an older one?”  
Andy snorts, it echos, people look at them. “No, I was trying to be nice, he is having a hard time and his god’s Holy thing used to make him calmer inside.” Andy looks at Nile “Do you think I made it worse?”  
“I don’t know and you really suck at comfort.”  
“I should get points for trying.”  
“Half a point.”  
“Five points.”  
“We will let Joe decide points.” Nile can see the priest politely telling people it’s closing time, Nile changes direction to gather the guys up. As she approaches she can see Joe standing, Nicky has his head bowed.   
“They are closing up” Nile tells Joe, Joe nods, Nile can hear Latin from Nicky, he is praying.  
“Nicky decided it was real.” Nile whispers. Joe nods.  
Nicky finishes praying and Joe glides him out of the cathedral, Andy waits for them outside, it is now fully dark, they are not the last to leave and given that it has gone eight, Nile thinks the people still inside are just being rude and giving tourists a bad name. She tells Joe this and he laughs. Andy says tourists have always been like that, regaling them with something that happened in Rome, when she, Lykon and Qyuhn were there. Only at Lykon and Quyhn names does Nile twig she is talking about Roman Rome. People really don’t change. The story lasts long enough to find a restaurant to eat dinner, no-one is going to make Nicky cook tonight. Nicky does not speak, pointing out to Joe what he wants off the menu. Then Joe makes Nile order for everyone in her best Spanish, the rest pretend not to understand when the waiter asks for clarification on sides and drinks, making Nile do all the translation. But they get the meals they order and the food is tasty and filling. Nile tells them about the places she went today and asks Joe about art styles. Andy asks Nile about the Marines and Afghanistan. Nile tells some tales of her own that has the others laughing even Nicky who has seems more content as the meal went on. They choose not to get dessert in the restaurant but to buy something as they wander back to the apartment. The streets are full of people at the bars and cafes, different types of music can be heard from doorways. The day’s heat coming out of the brickwork making it warm and soothing. Nile feels the relaxed mellow feeling from this morning return as they eat ice cream and trade stories about ice cream walking slowly in no rush. In the end they find themselves at the bridge covered in flowers, Nile inspection as they cross reveals that the flowers are in lots and lots of garden pots on a metal frame. Like Nicky said it would be something simple but it’s impressive and smells great. The art Museum Joe wants to go to is really just next door to the apartment, it is 20 meters from the ramp down into the park Nile used this morning.  
Nile falls into her bed, shortly after they get back to the apartment, hearing the others move about in their rooms, she is satisfied in a day well spent, tired from learning, blinking asleep, she is feeling good about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, medieval Christians had a lot of relics and believed they where powerful 'magic' objects.  
> Nicky still has some of that faith making his belief system different from Nile's more modern Christian views.  
> Hence Andy calling it Nicky's god to Nile, not your god.   
> If you ever get the chance to visit Valencia, please do it is a lovely place.


	9. Day Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky is grumpy and irrational.  
> Nile learns a new skill.  
> Joe is educational.  
> Andy is testing out her mortal body.  
> Food is made, conversations are had, back story is given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay the chapters keep getting longer.  
> Hope you think it's worth the wait.  
> Thank you all for reading.  
> Thanks for the kudos and comments.

Day Nine

Nile wakes up to a noise, muffled from across the hall, at first she thinks it Joe and Nicky having sex, but then she hears the door close and footsteps, just one set. Nile hears the radio go on in the kitchen, then go off. Nile rolls over to go back to sleep, it’s half two in the morning. She rolls over again, waiting for footsteps to come back to the bedroom or another set to join the other one in the kitchen, it does not come. It’s now quarter to three. Nile gets up, she is just going to check, see that whoever it is, is alright.  
Nicky is in the kitchen, he is mixing something on the small breakfast bar they have been using as counter space, eating on the big table in the other room..  
“You know it's not even three in the morning?”  
“I am making bread for breakfast.”  
“Instead of sleeping curled up with Joe?”  
“I find I am mad at him and am going to take it out on the dough.”  
“Why are you mad at him?”  
Nicky lets out a sigh and sits down on a bar stool. “It is the stupidest thing”  
Nile takes a seat, “Three am is the time for stupid things. Like making bread”  
Nicky presses his lips together. “Making bread is not stupid, it was often started in the middle of the night, when people used to get up for prayers” Nicky sighs, his body sags, “I did not realize Asia was from here, that Maryam and Rafik were born here. Malique too. That Yusef had sent them all to Tanger in 1088, when war was brewing. He fell in love with someone who was not me in this city. I know that his city is long gone, that he has been mine for nine hundred years, that he had already left her, but I am still upset.”  
“Do you want a hug? To drink alcohol and trash talk Joe? Eat junk food, sing very loudly off key and trash talk Joe? Um, I am trying to think what else we did when Dizzy or one of the others got broken up with or found out he was a cheating scumbag. Not that you have broken up or that he cheated.”  
“I am making bread.” Nicky stands back up, finishes mixing and adding the yeast. Nicky splits the formed dough, into two lumps. The piece he puts in the bowl he adds cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to. “Mix that in.” Nicky hands Nile the bowl. The pieces he left on the table he kneads out, then adds seeds and nuts with the next few folds.  
“He showed me her house, the square where he met her. The mosque where they were married. It’s a church now. He was smiling.” Each word is pushed into the dough, kneaded away from Nicky’s body.  
Nile is trying to copy Nicky, this is harder than it looks, the dough fights her, it does not fight Nicky, he has it beaten. “You want him to be sad before the two you you meet?”  
“No.” Nicky sound sulky, “I know I am being stupid.” He pulls the dough apart, squishing it together again.  
“Did you tell him that you are upset with him?”  
“Yes, we talked ‘what he feels for me is the ocean, whereas Asia was a small lake. Her kiss stopped thrilling him in years, it has been centuries and his desire has not lessened.’ I do not doubt him or his love and I know he will always pick me, I am just not used to the idea he had a love before me. Stupid given I met the woman.” He slams the bread onto the counter with some force.  
“You met her?”  
“There was a dinner, her, Malique, Saana -his sister, Maryam, Nadia, Nadeem, Abu and some of the grandchildren.” Each name is kneaded into the dough.  
“Abu?”  
“The child born after Asia married Malique but conceived while she was married to Yusef.”  
“Joe really had no problem with his wife sleeping with another man.”  
Nicky laughs, “Things would have been so much better for him if he had. But then we would not have met. Yusef said many times, ‘If a man can have two wives as long as he keeps both happy, a wife can have two husbands as long as she keeps both happy.’ The three of them were.” Nick is just rocking the dough now, rolling it on the table.  
“Joe has always been a femanist” Nile smiles at the thought.  
Nicky sits back down picking dough off his fingers. “Leave that” Pointing at the dough, Nile is still working.“Asia and then Maryam ran the shop, Yusef saw that Maryam and Nadia would only marry for love and to men that would not crush their spirits. He had documents set down for the girls future and happiness in the divorce, leaving money and land for them. He was a good father” Nicky gets back up, turns the oven on and makes two hot chocolates with milk not water. Nicky turns the oven off, puts the dough into two ceramic blows covered with a wet tea towel in the oven. Nile waits for Nicky to speak.  
Nicky sits back down with the drinks, he takes a deep breath, not looking at Nile but at a point between him and the wall and somewhere nine hundred years ago. “I think I am upset by the memories of Joe’s from here, that show the fact that Joe comes from this happiness and love, a warm family and mine was sad and broken.” He slips his drink, breathing deeply. “We had left Cario, made our way to Tunis. One day Yusef points out a man, his son, Rafik, loading his ship, wearing his company's colors. First I knew of a son, a wife, I knew there had been someone before me, Yusef knew what he was doing in bed, but I did not know of a wife. It took me days to get the whole story out of him and now I find he had not told me everything. We never talked to Rafik, the ship left at the high tide, but he was well known and liked, when we asked around. Now Yusef had seen his family was okay, I want to see mine. We went to Genoa, slowly. I met, Grandson Yusef in Scilly on the way. In Genoa, I found My Mother, Father, both older brothers and an older sister dead. My baby brother Giovanni, running things, my sisters in unhappy marriages, to men that cared nothing for them. Maria to a man who beat her, you could see the bruises, Camella to a man who was living with another woman, Violetta, the bright of us all to a man that had turned her into a ghost.” Nicky is playing with his ring, spinning it. “Giovanni thought I was a bastard son of his brother Nicolo and gave me money to go away. Not a lot but then there was not a lot of money to be had. The estate was near bankruptcy, it was in disrepair and Giovanni was an idiot, spoiled and with no head for numbers or skill with people. It felt like a chest wound that would not heal, to see everything I had grown up with lost, the people I love destroyed by poor choices and apathy. This was 1124 not thirty years after I left home.” Nicky pauses, gives a little half smile. “Yusef was with me, held me when I cried, did not think to leave when he saw where I came from, what I came from.” Nicky moves his ring from one finger to another, his lip twitching, “Yusef took me to Cordoba, it was a beautiful city, then Tangiers.” Nicky waves a hand to one side “Yusef uncle took over the business after Yusef’s father died, Uncle - I forget his name if I was ever told it, would not turn a blind eye to Yusef, Asia and Malique's little household. Uncle demanded Yusef do something about it. Yusef divorces Asia and moves into quarters in the house that had been Malique’s officially, nothing changed in fact in the household. This was not what Uncle wanted so he kicked Yusef out of the business, Yusef took a boat, the boat’s crew and trade root, plus the shop which was mostly his and Asia anyway, with him, sets up his own company, leaves Asia and Malique in charge, then sets off for Damascus.” Nicky moves his hand back to his cup. “We get there in 1129-1130. About 35 years after Yusef left. Yusef tells them he is Yusef’s son, I am a friend travelling with him, going on the Timbuktu, which we did go to. I think they all believed Joe’s tale, all is good, we get invited this although dinner at Asia’s, a couple of days later. Long lost son meeting his family. We met Yusef’s children except Rafik, he was at sea, grandchildren, even a great grandchild. They are all happy and well cared for and fed, the company is doing well, they are successful. All good, until the end of the night, when all the children have gone and Saana is in bed, just Yusef, Asia, Malique and I. Asia says, ‘I have wanted to kill my husband Yusef a time or two I am glad you got the chance to.”  
“Shit.” Nile is afraid of how this story will end.  
“They had told Yusef about the business, he had known things he should not, he confessed he was Yusef not a son. They asked what deal he had made with a jinn, Yusef told them it was to see his family again, in return he had to teach the Frank that killed him, the error of his ways. Yusef said his deal would bring not misfortune on the household, it was about him not them. Asia still asked us not to come back to the house, we still saw the children and Saana, in the market and squares. I don’t think Asia told them the truth. They had made a good life without Yusuf, he was not missed from their lives. They helped us find lodgings, get work to go on to Timbuktu. But no more than they would do for someone else”  
“It does not sound that bad.” Nile is relieved.  
“Apart from Yusef has always believed our gift is Allah’s will. A thing of goodness and love not the trickery and mischief of a jinn.” Nicky's voice is tense, angry at a distinction Nile can not fully grasp. Nicky sighs, finishing the dregs of his drink. “When they find out people always think demons not angels, it wears on you.” Nicky runs his hand through his hair. ”So Joe had this good family and the one I can give him, this one, is broken, depressed, angry and damaged.”  
“This family is not damaged and broken. I see the love between You, Joe and Andy. You care for me. I care for the three of you. Even Booker cares for you all even if he had a shit way of showing it. You would not hurt so much if you did not love him too”  
“She is right, my all. This family has love, and I made this family with you. How can I not love it. All families have issues, it is how they deal with them that matters.” Joe is standing at the door.  
“You should be asleep.” Nicky tells him not looking up.  
“So should you two it is half three.”  
“I am making bread.” Nicky gets up, taking the dough out the oven. Joe goes to find the bread tins in the cupboard. Nicky shapes the seed dough into two small loaves and the spiced bread into rolls. Everything goes back into the oven.  
“Now are you coming back to bed? Joe asks. Nicky shakes his head. Joe pulls Nicky to him, Nicky curling into his chest, Joe whispering into his hair.  
“Does it always suck to go back to your family?” Nile asks, when Joe looks up from Nicky’s head.  
“Yes, each family is different but it hurts. Andy’s worshiped her as a god not as a person, mine was kind but there was no place for me and they made that clear. Nicky’s wanted to get rid of him without getting to know him and Booker’s blamed him. Quyhn and Lykon’s drove them away for being demons. I am sorry Nile. Your family loves you, don’t forget that, but you are dead to them and it is better to keep it that way. Copley can keep a check on them for you, with the facebook and the social media.”  
Nile gives him a tight smile. Nile could see why Nicky going back to his family sucked, but Joe's story sounded okay. “You have no clue what social media is do you.”  
“No, but I know it lives on the internet and young people use the internet for it.” Joe pauses “It is a thing Copley could do? He seems good at finding information on the internet and watching people.”  
Nile laughs “Yes, I am sure he could, properly already is.” Nile knows Joe is not being cruel about her family and thinks he is being helpful by suggesting Copley internet stalks her family.  
Joe smiles back, his hand strokes Nicky’s hair, rocking him slightly. “Come back to bed, my all.”  
“Okay, “ Nicky pulls away after a minute, “I will come to bed.”  
“Still mad at me?”  
“No.” Nicky still sounds a little grumpy. Joe leads him from the kitchen. “Night Nile.”  
“Night guys.”  
Nile does the washing up before she heads back to bed, thinking. Joe told her his family was different to Booker, he chose to leave them. An adage comes back to her ‘The best revenge is a long life without any thoughts of your tormentor’. Nile can see how that would suck. Nile scrubs the counters and the breakfast bar, lingering to give the guys space. Finally yawning she heads back to bed. She can’t hear anything from the guys room as she passes. Nile climbs to bed with a yawn, asleep with the next.

Nile wakes up needing the bathroom, when she gets there, Nicky is on his knees cleaning the bath. The both freeze, embarrassed Nile points to the toilet.  
“Yes, sorry,” Nicky stands up leaving the room.  
Nile closes the door behind him and uses the toilet, then after washing her hands brushes her teeth. Nicky is in the hall, waiting, he goes back into the bathroom to finish cleaning. Nile dresses in her running gear, Nicky is now washing the bathroom floor, on her exit from the bedroom.  
“Been up long?”  
“Half an hour, you did the washing up and cleaned the kitchen.”  
“Yes.”  
“Grazie.”  
“The others up.” Nile looks down the corridor to the sitting room.  
“No.”  
“Likely to get up soon.”  
“No, Andy was reading when I woke up for the first time last night. She was in her room the second time.”  
“When we made bread?”  
“Yes.”  
“and Joe” Nile prompts.  
“Joe’s epic French poem about how he is going to kill Booker is coming along. There are now four verses about cooking him in a stew, I was concerned about the list of ingredients and instructions, until I remembered it is foods Booker does not like in a French stew that I don’t cook because it’s pork and Booker complained about changing things out when I did it with beef. It is another layer of attack on him. The verse on impalement, thank you Nile, is graphic, the death with the rats comes from a film, I am sure. Joe takes two verses and four deaths to get to the top of this volcano, another verse and death to throw Booker in. Joe is very clear on which volcano too. ” Nicky has moved them to the sitting room sofa. “I think falling in a volcano might kill us forever, there would be nothing left, our bones would burn. I do wonder about smashing us after we had been frozen with liquid nitrogen. Once we thawed and you pushed pieces together, would we come back?”  
“Okay, let’s not think about that or you know test it.” Nile does not know whether to laugh or be horrified. “You’re not going to let Joe publish it are you?”  
“No, I will make him burn it, but it’s getting his anger out.”  
“He was writing last night.”  
“Both times after he brought me back to bed, he blames Booker for my mental state.” Nicky looks to Nile at the end of the sentence to check he has used the term correctly.  
“Is Joe wrong?”  
Nile gets a half smile, “Yes” Nicky does not sound sure, “No, it all feeds back to Booker betrayal.”  
Nile pats his hand and Nicky latches onto her fingers.  
“I do feel calmer and less anxious. Why did you ask if they will be up soon?”  
“I thought I might have a short run, half the park or so, then go through the forms.”  
“If they are not up when you are done, I will wake them.”  
“Do you want to come, I know being away from Joe makes you anxious but you seem restless.”  
Nicky hides his face in the sofa cushions, blush coming up on his cheeks, pulling his and Nile hands to his chest. Andy chooses that moment to walk-in.  
“What did you do to him.”  
Whatever Nicky responds is muffled by the cushions, but it has the shape of words not moans or sobs.  
“I asked if he wanted to come for a run as I know he gets anxious away from Joe.”  
Andy runs her hand through Nicky’s hair. “You think I can not take care of your man?”  
Nicky moves his head a tiny amount “No, Boss, I know he is safe with you.”  
“That Joe can not take care of himself.”  
“No, Boss, Joe is a capable man.”  
“Then?”  
“It is the thoughts of what if this or that was to happen while I was gone and then I get stuck and the thoughts pile on top of each other and fill me, I can not breathe as they steal the air from my lungs.”  
“Tell your brain to stop thinking such things.”  
“It does not work like that, Andy. Nicky anxiety is a real thing and we can not wish it away.”  
“It will pass, it always does, I do feel safer and more confident this morning.” Nicky is telling the truth but also trying to reassure both of them. “I am more embarrassed, I thought I was better at hiding my need to know Joe is safe.”  
“Nile’s good at noticing things, she has your eyes Nicky.” Andy pulls Nicky’s head back so he will look at her. “Your daughter has your eyes and mind and Joe’s heart.”  
Nicky pulls his head free, “Stop calling her that, she is not our child.”  
Andy climbs on to the arm to the sofa, Nicky rests his head against her hip. “Little sister then”  
Nicky smiles “No,”  
“Baby sister”  
“Why can she not be your child?”  
Andy looks Nile over, “Too sunny, she can not ride a horse and she is city born, like you and Joe.”  
“Do I get a say in this?” Nile asks.  
“Depends on your say.” Andy tells her.  
“I don’t mind being a sister, I mean I am one now, so, you know.” Nile shrugs.  
“Baby sister.” Andy tells her.  
“Nicky is Andy well enough to be pushed off her perch?”  
Nicky moves off Andy, blocking Nile, grasping her hands a little tighter. “No, go for a run”  
“You good with me going?”  
“Yes, Nile, go.” Nicky lets her hands go and Nile gets up. Andy gives her a smile and a touch to her arm as she passes. In the kitchen Nile takes the packet of salami out of the fridge, opens it and eats two slices before washing her hands and using cling film to seal the packet again. She put the packet in the fridge again and makes up a water bottle. Nile thinks about her route, picking something she will enjoy, not just for distance as she puts her trainers on, calling out ‘I leaving’ when she opens the door.

It’s cooler outside than Nile expected, the cloud cover is light, there is no threat of rain, but it’s enough to drop the temperature by a few degrees. Nile turns to the south when she comes off the ramp to the park, moving to the next path toward the centre. There are some art installations in the park not just statues of people, like the set of 16 metal poles opposite a set of outdoor gym equipment, Nile thinks she might come back and use equipment another day, there are three people using it now. Nile sees a few runners, not as many as yesterday but she is later, there are more older people and cyclists. As Nile goes under the bridge that looks like a sail with the sticking up square lumps at ground level, she hear a whooshing sound and slowing to have a look good around she see the sign for a metro station at the side and realizes there is a train station below her, the lumps are for light. The open sandy area now has what Nile thinks might be a market setting up on it. Even though it’s overcast there are some people sitting with their feet in the water of the pool with the bridge over it. She runs past the set of small fountains and the orange trees and palm trees to the big dancing fountain. A little farther on there is a bike rental place and Nile thinks about coming back to learn to ride, the park seems a safe place to learn. The park changes after another bridge, becoming more open with less trees, Nile runs past the big statue in the pool and over the stream into the rose garden, she does a couple of slow circles along the paths looking at the different colors before heading north. Once she gets to the next bridge she sprints as fast as she can to the one after that, then slows to her normal pace until the next bridge where she speeds up again for a bridge length. There are people with suitcase to dodge by the metro stop and some old men playing football on one of the pitches and groups of students sat under trees. Nile passes an old man feeding the birds, little ones not pigeons and a group of lads riding together on a four person buggy/bike thing, which Nile thinks might be a great team building exercise or result in the death of one of them she can’t tell from the shouting. Nile keeps going until she gets to the athletics track then heads back. The cloud cover is starting to break up and she can feel the sunlight on her every time she leaves the shade of the trees. The baseball pitch has a game going on as Nile passes it, it gives Nile a twinge of homesickness so she speeds up, only slowing down by the time she is gasping for air and has nearly missed her ramp. Sweating, draining the last of her water, Nile waits at the crossing, feeling relaxed and satisfied after a good run, she takes a slow jog once the light is green back to the apartment. Nicky is not on the steps and she did not pass him on the street, nor as she climbs the stairs. Nile will not admit to being worried that she has somehow missed him when she enters the apartment, relaxing when she hears his voice from the sitting room. “Did you have a good run?”  
“Yes, thanks.” Nile closes the door, taking the towel someone (Nicky) has hung on a coat peg. Nicky pops into the kitchen,coming back to swap her water bottle for a smoothie.  
“Grazie”  
“Prego”  
The dining table has been pushed against the wall again and the sofa moved to make a space, Andy is doing her stretches, Nicky has a map spread out on the table, notes on a pad.  
“Planning something?”  
“We need a new Charlie safe house. Goussainville can’t be used again.” Nicky sits back down.  
“Nicky wants Frankfurt-Zurich, I want Krakow-Wroclaw.”  
“Frankfurt and Zurich have better airports.”  
“Less regulation”  
“I am doing a pro/con list.” Nicky tells her. “In the end it will be if we can find something that fits.”  
“How many safe houses do we have?”  
“Alpha is outside Vladivostok, Russia, Beata is just outside Vientiane, Laos, Delta Durban, South Africa, Echo is La Paz, Bolivia. Andy has her cave, Booker has a house on Corsica for some reason.“  
“You and Joe don’t have somewhere.”  
“We had a house in Aceh, Indonesia, but the Tsunami took that.” Nicky sees no comprehension on Nile's face, “St.stephen’s day 2004.”  
“I was 8. Sorry”  
Nicky’s jaw twitches.  
“She is very young Nicky.” Andy's tone is warm and a little resigned .  
Nicky nods, pushes away from the table, “Yes, of course, not a problem Nile. I am going to put the bread on.”  
Nile watches him go into the kitchen. “I miss google and wikipedia.”  
“Family?” Andy asks, she is at the point in her stretches that Nile saw yesterday.  
Nile smiles. “No they are websites on the internet.”  
“Does the new laptop not have them?”  
“No the internet works.”  
“Then why can’t you use them? work them? internet them?” Andy tries to find the right term.  
Nile goes to say security and then thinks, it would be the apartments wifi and Nicky did something with VPN before so there is no reason to worry about the connection to Copley. “I didn't think I could, but there is no reason. You lot just don’t use the internet.”  
Andy nods, wobbling slightly.  
“Spotify” Nile says as she grapes the laptop, putting it on the far side of the table.  
“Pardon?” Nicky, still grumpy asks.  
“Spotify, it’s a website for music, let me set up an account for Nile Fowler, and I will show you. You will love Wikipedia too Nicky, I can look stuff up you tell me about.” Nile sounds excited.  
“What kind of music?” Nicky sounds suspect.  
“All music. Pick something and I bet they have it.”  
“Joe took me to a concert, classical instruments but modern songs.” Nicky hums as he thinks, “Oh, two cellos”  
“Got it.” Nile puts a song on, the sound of cellos playing ‘Despaitco’ fills the room. Nile types some more things then ushers Nicky over, once the song ends, sitting him in the chair. “I have made a playlist for each of us.” The playlists are called Boss, Mylove, Myall and New. “You drag the song into your playlist and you can use the magnifying glass to find stuff.” Nicky smiles “I believe I can manage.”  
Andy comes over, her stretches finished, swapping places with Nile as she goes through all the forms she was taught yesterday. Nile hears bits of music and Andy giving Nicky search ideas. Occasional Nicky or Andy tells her to adjust an arm or leg. Joe stumbles into the sitting room and collapses onto the sofa, face first. Nicky walks past him, his hand reaching over the back of the sofa, doing something that has Joe turning over, to sit up and glare at him. An effect ruined by a yawn. Nicky brings him a coffee, along with Nile’s broom handle. By the time Nile has worked through the sword forms Joe has gotten up, joining the others around the laptop after bringing the Ax for the last set of forms. The Ax is heavy by the time she has finished, as the over timer beeps.  
“I am going to put the rolls in so you have time for a shower.” Nicky tells her, collecting her weapons as he passes. “Put the room back, then lay the table, please.” Nick tells the other two.

Niles quickly showers and dresses, Joe and Andy have set the sitting room back to rights, putting all the spreads, jellies, cheese, butter and ham on the table, one of the loaves is on a chopping board with a bread knife, but none of them are in the room. Andy brings a basket of rolls sucking her thumb, Joe is carrying four mugs of coffee. “Nicky told you it was hot, Boss.”  
“Shut up Joe” Andy's voice is distorted by her thumb.  
“Show me” Nile says. Andy sighs, sticking her thumb in Niles face. Nile leans back, grabbing Andy’s hand to take a clear look, the skin is just a bit red. “You’re fine. No blister.”  
“She is mad as she can’t steal food from the pan any more.” Nicky brings in two plates with omelettes on, setting them on the table, Joe brings the other two plates in and they all sit down.  
“What were you doing a pro/con list for, my all.” Joe points his fork at Nicky.  
“Charlie safe house location.” Nicky replies  
“Northeast or Northwest Alps?”  
“Yes.”  
Joe nods, eating this breakfast, thinking. “It’s is going to take sometime, Booker has the Swiss account numbers.”  
“I know but in a couple of years we could get Copley to ask him.”  
“If he remembers, if he is drinking, he maybe of no use to anyone.” Joe sounds annoyed at future drunk Booker.  
“Don’t you have accounts of your own?” Nile asks.  
“No, banks are stupid.” Andy moves to cut the bread.  
“Andy lets Booker manage her money and Joe manage her shell companies for land ownership.”  
“I own land?”  
“Yes Boss, your mine and Delta safe house. To stop anyone else building or use the space.”  
Andy nods like they told her this before.  
“Joe and I have accounts but we can not remember the account codes, so can not access them.”  
“Did you write it down anywhere?” Nile wonders how they can just write of money like that.  
“Yes, in a notebook in code that was left in Goussainville.” Joe tells her.  
“We are going to have to go back there.” Nicky is resigned, “Hope that that paper is still in good condition in a couple of years.”  
“Not any sooner than a couple of years.” Nile asks.  
“People will not watch a place forever, three to five years any surveillance will become slow to react, even if computers are used the human element will be weak. Truthfully the risk is vandalism and rodents.” Nicky explains.  
“The way it was left, I am not even sure we could use second parties.” Joe muses.  
“I miss my sword.” Nicky looks to Andy, “I know you gave me one of the guns so I could sleep, but I have used swords for so much longer and I miss it.”  
Andy ruffles his hair. “I know Nicky, Joe can get us guns any day. Replacing decent weapons is hard.”  
“Nile would have to drive me to Madrid or Barcelona, it might take 24 hours” Joe thinks, “There might be a cash of armaments in the mountains from ETA. What did you want?”  
Andy smiles, “Nothing at the moment, Joe.” She ruffles his hair too, Joe leaning into it like a cat. Nile swears she hears him purr.  
“What are you doing today?” Andy asks when she starts eating again.  
Joe and Nicky look at each other, both flashing a glance to Nile.  
“Joe wanted to do an art museum and I was thinking that after we could have lunch in the park and then I could learn to ride a bike. There is a rental place in the park.”  
Nicky looks at Joe again, “”We have no objections.”  
“Phone me when you are going for lunch.” Andy tells them.  
“You don’t want to come with us?” Nile asks Andy.  
“I like the artist more than their art” Andy says with a dirty smile, Nicky flushes red at her words, Joe laughs.  
“kay.” Nile suppresses a giggle, she is not going to laugh at a bad joke, even if it is true.

They walk to the Museu de Belles art de Valencia, it’s in a beautiful old building with an internal courtyard painted blue, that you walk straight in to, with rooms and corridors come off of it. One of the rooms for an artist called Joaqun Sorolla, Nile had a teacher with a print of one of his paintings on his wall when she was in high school. Nile spends a bit of time looking about the room and reading all the signs, turns out he is from Valencia. As they wander through the other rooms and floors there are places to sit and look at paintings, Nile and Joe make the most of these spots. Joe talks about technique, style and fashion, pointing out examples. Joe tells Nile about how to make brushes and types of paint used and how both can affect the style of a painting, the reasons and effects of using different surfaces for the paintings and even how to make paints, it’s like having her personal professor. Nile learns more about the technicalities of how to paint and why artists make their choices then her three years of college. There is modern art every so often mixed in with the older paintings, which Joe does not have much to say about, except if he likes it or not. There is a sculpture of a head, in the courtyard, made of metal but looks like lace that Nile loves, she keeps coming back to it. Although Nicky trails behind Joe and Nile the whole time, it’s clear to Nile that Nicky's favorite thing is an inlay chest of draws, it’s the only thing he looks at more than once and from more than one angle. That’s not to say he is uninterested in the rest, he asks Nile about sculpture, bickers with Joe about likes and dislikes of modern art. Nicky also points out to Nile little bits in paintings, like jokes and four hundred year old insults hidden away. When they leave, Joe phoning Andy to meet them, Nile’s head feels thick and full, like she crammed all night before a test.  
“You can tell him he has spoken too long on a subject, he has never actually died from pouting.” Nicky tells Nile as she yawns and stretches once the step into the sunlight.  
“I had fun and it was interesting. Joe could write a textbook for any university course on art. It’s just a lot to have it dictated to you in one go.”  
“I think the only books of Joe’s used by universities are the botanical studies, from Indonesia and Malaysia, even then it’s as a historic value.”  
Nile stops dead in the middle of the road.  
“Nile?” Nicky turns back from the central island to get her.  
“Sorry, I think you short circuited my brain.” Nile lets him loop her arm though his and finishes crossing the road.  
“We will tell Joe he put so much information in your head it pushed out how to walk.” Nile laughs at Nicky’s joke and Joe's outraged face as they join him by the wall. Andy joins them with the next change of lights and they set off to get lunch from one of the cafes in the park. 

Nile leads them to the cafe in the park by the market that is setting up. The food is Spanish and cheap and plentiful, with something everyone can eat, satisfied with the posted menu they take a seat.  
“You abstaining with Nicky, Joe.” Andy asks.  
Joe looks to Nicky who ducks his head “Scuse”, Joe nods to Andy and turns his attention to Nicky. Nile remembers a wine glass in front of Nicky at that first dinner but he had water at the pub and he has not even had a beer since. Nicky is not drinking and given how embarrassed he is, they were not meant to notice.  
“Think you can split a jug of sangria Nile?” Andy pulls her attention from the guys.  
“Yes, sangria and paella for me.” Nile tells her.  
The other three get filled sandwiches and a cheese pizza to share, the guys get horchata to drink.  
Nile looks at Nicky, “I thought you might have something to say on the subject of pizza.”  
Nicky smiles, “Pizza came along after tomatoes came to Italy, it is not part of my first life.”  
“Oh, I think of it as such an Italian thing. Tomatoes are not native, they come from South America? I think I learnt that in school.”  
“Yes, like potatoes.” Nicky tells her.  
The food and drink arrives, stopping all conversation as they tuck in.  
Nile’s mind wanders as she eats, she starts to think about what will be happening at home today and looks for a way to pull those thoughts off track.Taking a leaf from the others in changing the subject when things get too close to something painful, she asks “Where was Lykon from?”  
“Kerma” Andy replies.  
“Where is that.”  
“North of Napata”  
“Where is that.”  
“Kush”  
“Andy!”  
“Sudan. Now, I think, on the Nile.”  
Nile thinks for a second, “So he looked like me.”  
“No, he was taller, solid but wiry. You are stocky and athletic.” Andy tells her.  
“But he was my skin colour and hair.”  
“Yes.” Andy is dismissive of those similarities and the conversation.  
Nile turns to the guys, “Did you ever meet him?”  
“No, we did not even dream of him, he died before we were born.”  
“Oh.” Nile goes back to eating her food. “Quyhn was from South east Asia.”  
“What is now Vietnam, but Andy met her in the Gobi desert.” Joe tells her, casting a look at Andy. Nile takes the hint to stop this line of questioning.  
“Why do you want to know, these things?” Andy's tone is harsh and accusing.  
“I am trying to picture you all running about Europe and Asia. Someone would have always stood out.”  
“Not In Imperial Roma, no-one looked twice at the three of us.” Andy tells her.  
“We do not darken with the sun. Going down the Swahili coast for the first time was an experience for me, so many people had never seen someone as white as me, “ Nicky laughs, “I was asked if I was a statue come to life more than once.”  
“This is Africa.” Nile thinks out loud, “I never thought about being white as the minority, that it would be Nicky and Andy standing out. Were there even cities for you to go to?”  
Andy huffs a laugh.  
“You are not funny.” Joe tells Nile.  
“Andy thinks I am.”  
“The African coast on the Indian Ocean, there were many cities for us to go to. Great Empires and trading nations, for gold and ivory mostly. Did you not learn about these empires in school.” Nicky answers Nile’s questions.  
“We learnt about Egypt.” Nile tells him.  
“But not Kush.” Andy asks.  
“No, sorry.”  
Andy pours the last of the sangria into her glass with a sign. “Doesn’t matter anymore.”  
“You can not help the education you received, just if you expand on it or not.” Nicky reassures Nile.  
The waitress comes to take the plates away and asks if they want anything else. Nile and the guys order another drink, Andy orders four lots of Nutella crepes. Once the waitress leave both Joe and Nile glare at Andy. “It’s not just for me, one each.” Andy snaps at them.  
Joe laughs.  
“I guess there is a lot that I was not taught at school.” Nile states.  
“Like how to ride a horse.” Andy teases.  
“Like that, because it’s not useful in modern life or because things get forgotten about, like how to kill a mammoth.”  
Nicky gives Nile a half smile.  
“Nicky.” Andy points at him, Nicky fires something off, in quick Italian.  
Andy turns to Nile, “I am not that old.”  
“Just narrowing down a time frame.” Nile smiles sweetly.  
“But in turn there are things that you take for granted that we do not know.” Nicky tells Nile.  
“Like the internet.” Nile supplies.  
“Like your knowledge of the internet,” Nicky gives her, “an ease at navigating this world, cultural and social cues we miss, you have a better grasp on mental health.”  
“What Nicky is saying is this is not a one way street, yes we have a vast pool of knowledge for you to tap into but we are going to rely on you for interaction with the modern world on occasion.” Joe adds. “And that Andy is why she is a sister not a daughter.”  
Andy concedes that Joe has made his point, as she slips her drink.  
The waitress brings their drinks and food. As Nile is eating she watches a group of the little birds, eat the crumbs left on and around another table, Nicky points the birds out to Joe. “She has Nicky eyes.” Andy mutters.  
“Siblings often share traits.” Joe counters.  
“What are they?” Nile indicates the little birds.  
Joe gives her a word in Arabic. Then he and Nile both turn to Nicky.  
“House Sparrows.” Nicky tells them once he has swallowed his food.

Joe pays once they have all finished, walking slowly to the bike hire, they see another four person bike/buggy things. Nile asks if they should hire one of those. It met with a firm no from everyone, Joe lays his arm across Nile's shoulders, telling her about the time on Margaret’s island, when they all (including Booker) had a go on one of bike/buggies, it ends with them being fished out of the Danube. Nile is laughing so much she can’t walk by the end of the story. Nicky claims that the ban on them in Budapest should be up by now. Nile asks when this was, Nicky and Joe agree it was the 1920’s but not which year, Andy thinks it may have been 1919, which is closer to Nicky’s 1921 than Joe’s 1925, but they all agree it was late spring.

The guys make Nile do all the talking in Spanish when they get to the bike hire, getting a bike each and four locks, keeping them until the hire place closes at nine. The man helps set up each bike, adjusting the seat and handlebars until everyone is happy. Nile walks with the bike toward the next bridge, as the guy cycle ahead and then back, Andy cycles beside her. Just after the next bridge is a wide path that crosses the park and is not being used. Andy claims the bench, Joe and Nicky tell Nile what she is meant to do. Nile takes a deep breath and puts a foot on a peddle and then lifts her other foot, the bike topples, Joe and Nicky catch her. Nicky tells Nile she has to be moving, she needs to push off before lifting her second foot. Nile tries again. She gets a couple of meters before wobbling and falling over. She gets back up and goes again, getting to the end of the path before failing to turn and coming off as she tires to stop herself falling. Nile turns the bike around and cycles back to the guys, Joe jogs beside him talking her through a much larger turn, which she manages, cycling back past Nicky, Nile does another loop at the far end, cycling back toward the others and tries to stop, presses the brakes too hard and nearly goes over the handlebars, Andy grabs the bike to top Nile going sideways. Nile does a few more loops, getting the hang of stopping, turning and speed. Nicky seems satisfied with Nile ability and suggests they cycle around the park. At first Nile thinks this is a great idea as cycling is easy, but then there are other people and small children who just walk in front of the bike and it’s not that easy, the bike jumps and jolts as she goes over different surfaces. Nile is glad to stop a short while later by the stone benches in the center of the rose garden where Nicky has led them.  
“How do you find it.” Nicky asks, keeping one eye on Joe and Andy as they look at the roses.  
“Terrifying and kinda fun” Nile tells him.  
Nick gives her a half smile, “Joe’s said the same thing his first time.”  
“What about the first time he rode a bike.” The Marines have taught Nile that there is only one unqualified first time. Nicky looks confused until he sees her smile and flushes red. “I meant on a bike. The first time we had sex, Joe reassured me it did feel good, there where declarations of love and a desire to to have more sex right now.”  
“Good to know.” Nile can feel her face heat.  
Nicky looks right at her, knowingly, “It is not that different from what he says now, to be honest. It depends.”  
Nile put her hand over Nicky’s mouth, which he then licks, which is gross but Nile has a brother and is a Marine, “You win, no more sex talk.” Nicky nods, Nile removes her hand, wiping it on Nicky’s sleeve.  
“What do you think of the building?” Nile points to the first of the strange shaped buildings at this end of the park.  
“It looks like a white girino.”  
“A) Is that good or bad, B) girino?”  
“You have Frog eggs, then girino, then baby frogs, then frogs. It is a very impressive building, I have no idea why, Oh it’s the Opera house.” Nicky’s map clicks into place. “It’s built around the acoustics inside, the outside does not matter as much, just the movement of people and space of everything such a place would need.”  
“I thought you would have something to say on it, when I saw it. There are three others that I wanted to show you. Want to go cycle around it?”  
“Yes.” Nicky looks for the other two, both of them seem to know Nicky is looking at them fully and turn to look at him. Nicky must signal Joe somehow as he heads back to Nicky straight away but Nile can’t tell how.  
“What have you found that is prettier than roses, my all?” Joe comes as closest to Nicky as he can without touching him. Nicky indicates the building with his head. Joe looks at it.  
“Looks like one of your spider web bridges curled up and died.” Andy looks at Nile as if to check that is not a thing that could happen.  
“Yes, Andy we should make all out buildings out of mud bricks and animal skins.” Nile jokes.  
“Can’t go wrong with mud bricks and animal skins.” Andy tells her with a smile, Nicky looks like he has a list of where you can go wrong. “Shush Nicky, I don’t care about your list.”  
“Okay Boss. Nile and I wish to cycle around this building and three others.”  
“Led on.” Andy sweeps her arms along the path. The cycle to the other side of the building and long past it, stopping a couple of times so Nicky, Joe or Nile can point something out to each others, Andy says at the back, off to one side looking bored, except when Nile catches her out the corner of her eye, then she looks fond. Joe thinks it looks more like a seed than a tadpole. The next building they both agree looks like half an egg with a translucent shell. Joe thinks the next building looks a bit like a rib cage, Nile says this is the corpses of one of Nicky’s lace bridges, she gets a snort from Andy and a glare from Nicky. Nicky likes how the buildings all rise out of the pools of water and match but are not the same. Nile can tell he wants to say more but knows the others are not that interested. Nile thinks if she can let Joe go on at her for hours about the intricacies of painting then she will make time to let Nicky talk to her about building things. There is a fifth Building Nile did not see from the park, tucked behind the rib building, it has a garden on top under an open lace metal roof, which they walk inside, pushing the bikes. Then they cross the bridge with one big tower and a web of white cables coming down, like a harp on it’s side. They loop around the fifth building, this one has color, it’s mostly blue, Joe claims it’s some kind of hat. That starts a discussion between him and Andy about hats. When they stop at the end of the park to turn around, Nicky gives Nile a shoulder nudge and a rare full smile, before he leads them off back up the park. Joe challenges Nile to a few races between the bridges, all of which he wins. Nicky then explains how the gears work on Nile's bike and that she can use them to go faster. Nile plays with the gears nearly coming off when she drops too low and really struggling when she goes too high, but she picks up the idea by the time they reach Cabecera park at the top. Nicky leads them around the lake along sand paths and wooden boardwalks in between stone walls, it is not a hard place to cycle but Nile is more aware of the edge of the path than before. They stop at a cafe to get drinks, watching people in plastic swans boats on the lake, plus the real birds on the lake and the fish in it.  
“Nile, do you feel confident enough to try riding on the road, hopefully we would have use of cycle lanes but there will still be cars and buses about.” Nicky asks.  
Nile thinks for a bit, “I want to say yes, but I don’t know.”  
“I can change plans if necessary.” Nicky turns to Andy, “Any pain?”  
“No more than normal, is it far?”  
“Not quite 10kms.” Nicky tells her.  
“That sounds far.” Andy playfully moans.  
“I will buy you Ice cream.” Nicky cajoles.  
“Can I have Ice cream?” Nile asks.  
Nicky looks at Joe pouting face, “Yes we all get ice cream, it is after all, traditional.”  
Nicky leads them back thought the Turia park then up a ramp past the Real park down a wide boulevard with a park in the middle then left onto a plain boulevard then right onto a boulevard with train tracks in the middle, there has been a cycle path the whole way, they have had to go single file but it not been too troubling for Nile, she just follows the Nicky, Andy behind her and Joe at the rear. When Nicky stops and she pulls up next to him, Nile finally looks at their destination, it’s a beach and filling the horizon is the Mediterranean sea.  
“I saw the Mediterranean sea on the map, I knew we were on the coast, I just didn’t think there would be a beach and you know water.”  
Nicky gives her a half smile, “Let us lock the bikes up and then we can get our feet wet.”  
Nile nods not quite sure what she is feeling. The nearest bike stand is by a cafe that sells premade ice cream so with a cornetto each they head to the sea. Taking turns to lean on each other they remove their shoes and socks at the end of the wooden boards, walking on the hot sands toward the sea. It’s later in the day so there are no sunbathers but some people are playing volleyball and there are a number of walkers. The water is cool after the sand but not cold, Nile rolls her trousers up as far as they will go, walking into the surf. Suddenly she is crying, somewhere half a world away, her mother and brother are burying an empty coffin thinking it’s her. Someone comes to stand next to her, Nile is surprised to see it’s Andy not one of the guys, Nile tries to wipe her face but the tears keep coming. Andy puts her hand on Nile’s neck, turning her head to look out to sea. They stand like that, feet sinking into the sand, so that they nearly fall when they do try to move, trouser legs soaked by sea water.  
The guys' trousers are also wet and their shirts covered in sand, Nile does not ask what they have been up to, as they take turns in hugging her. They make use of the taps to clean their feet and legs of sand, putting socks and shoes back on. Nile washes her face to clear off the salt tracts. The guys wash their arms, Joe and Nicky share comments in Arabic, which starts as a joke then Joe pauses, removes this shoe and socks, washes his face and walks a little away from them, Nicky pointing out to sea. Everyone pretends not to watch as he prays, waiting for him to come back and clean the sand off him again.  
“Let’s head back” Andy rounds them all up towards the promenade, “Nicky still has to cook us dinner.”  
“I do?”  
“Yes, there is chicken in the fridge, fish too, I went to the shop.”  
“Thank you Andy.” Nicky tells her, unlocking the bikes. He leads them along the promenade past the docks and up boulevards to the Turia park by close to the bike hire place. By the time they have returned the bikes, Joe and Nile both making polite conversation, got their ID’s back, Andy is flagging. Joe marshals them all up to the street and across the road to the bus stop, getting them on to the 94 bus. Six stops later they are outside the art museum. It is a short walk back to the apartment.  
Once they are in the apartment Nicky heads straight into the kitchen to start dinner, Joe and Nile both ask if he wants help and shoos then both out of the room. Andy has headed for her bedroom, Joe heads for his, so Nile goes to have a shower, she can feel the sand and sea water on her legs under her trousers and her hair could do with a wash. Once her plaits are undone, Nile heads for the bathroom, she can hear music from the sitting room and Joe is sat in one of the armchairs.  
Clean and dressed Nile joins Joe in the sitting room, he is sketching away. Nile does not think she falls asleep on the sofa but Nicky shakes her shoulder seconds later, to come eat dinner. Andy joins them yawning, brought by Joe. Nicky has made chicken breast with a mushroom sauce, roast vegetables and rice. How he managed this Nile does not know but it is delicious and she is very happy to eat it. Nile does tell Nicky this, giving her thanks, that reminds Joe and Andy to do the same.  
After dinner Nile does the washing up, drys up and puts away. Joe tries to help but Nile sends him to look at his booklet to see what they will do tomorrow and the day after. “Nicky likes plans”, she reminds him,”it might let him sleep better.”  
“We all do better when we have a plan.”  
“So go, I can handle washing up.”  
Nile enters the sitting room, Andy is dozing in her chair, Nicky with his head on Joe's lap looking through his notebook. Nicky shows Nile a picture of the opera house labeled Girino.  
“Nile they have a Menagerie.”  
“A what?”  
“Tiergarten.”  
“Nope?”  
“Jardin Zoological.”  
“Show me.” Nile reaches out her hand, Joe gives her the booklet. “Oh a Zoo.”  
“Yes, want to go?”  
“We are clear that I am not your daughter and you two are not absent weekend dads that need a place to take me. Also I am not seven.”  
“I do not understand.” Joe’s face is blank.  
“Nile, to us a zoo, is a place of wonder, a chance to see creatures we may never see otherwise, even with our long lives. It is something I would like to see, if we can.” Nicky’s calm reason, cutting the difference of opinion between them.  
“Oh, I guess for me the zoo is for school trips and you know, a place for dads to take kids on the weekends. It’s not for grown-ups.”  
“Maybe we can change your mind?” Joe sounds hopeful  
“We can go, if nothing else I can get the story of the first time you saw an elephant or whatever out of you.”  
“Not tomorrow,” Andy says, “I am not up to going anywhere, tomorrow. I ache.”  
“Sorry, I did not know.”  
Andy cuts Nicky off, “Nile our mortal expert did not know how sore and tried cycling would make me, if she didn’t know how would you. Why don’t you lot go find a place to hike or spar or something tomorrow, that I can’t do.”  
“We could bike to the wetlands.” Joe suggests, “It’s a thing to do in the booklet, if we find somewhere secluded we could spar, take a pic-nic lunch. You can hire bikes from a number of places, cycle there, do a trail.”  
“Sounds good.” Nile yawns, “Wetlands tomorrow, zoo the day after.”  
“All settled then.” Andy moves to get out of her chair, “Nile come help me up.” Nicky moves to get up to help Andy, “Joe, I said Nile.” Joe stops Nicky from moving off the sofa, Nicky makes an unhappy grumbling sound, Joe makes soothing sounds pulling him close, into a hug. Nile helps Andy up and down the hall to her bedroom.  
“Need any more help?” Nile asks at the door.  
Andy looks her up and down, with a smirk, “No, I can manage, get the guys to go to bed, I’ll see you all in the morning.”  
Nile walks the few meters back to the sitting room, in the time she has been gone, Nicky has curled up on Joe, head on his left shoulder, arms around his right arm, body across his chest.  
“Is he asleep?” Nile asks.  
Nicky makes a negative sound.  
“Mostly.” Joe's voice is soft with love, he kisses Nicky’s hair and Nicky makes happy sounds, wiggling closer to Joe.  
“You should get him to bed before he is fully asleep.” Nile says. Joe nods, pulls his right arm free of Nicky’s grasp and slips it under his knees. His left arm braces Nicky’s body, In one smooth movement Joe stands up carrying Nicky, “Can you get the bedroom door.”  
Nile nods and moves to open their bedroom door, turning on the bedroom light as well. “I’ll lock up, you stay with him.” Nile tells Joe once he has placed Nicky on the bed.  
“Thank you, good night Nile.”  
“Night Joe, Night Nicky.”  
Nile checks the front door is locked and wedges the chair that is from the corner of the entry, that Nile guess is for people to sit on to put their shoes on, under the handle as they have been doing. She shuts the kitchen window and checks the sitting room one. Happy everything is secure, she heads to bed herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice any spelling I missed, let me know to fix it.


	10. Day Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nile and Nicky spar.  
> Nile gets to do new things.  
> Andy is not helping and does not make things better.  
> Joe is wonderful and supportive as ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments.  
> Nile, Joe and Nicky talk about places of worship and services, they are not talking about the religions or even faith, just buildings and application of said faith.  
> Sorry in advance if I have been offensive.

Day Ten

Nile wakes with a jolt, she can smell salt, but the dream does not linger. The apartment is silent, the rain against the window is the loudest sound. Nile gets up to look out of the window, everything outside is wet and glowing slightly under the streetlights, no-one is on the street, she sees a couple of sets of car lights in the distance but that's all the movement for a little after four in the morning. Nile stretches up onto tiptoe arms reaching toward the ceiling. Nile thinks about checking the weather forecast but she picks going back to bed, it will still be raining later or not.  
The window is showing a blue sky when Nile next wakes, turning over and snuggling into the covers, Nile debates getting up. She can hear music from the sitting room, the words are muffled, language unclear. Nile checks the time, it’s nearly half six, she’ll get up at half six.  
Joe is on the sofa wrapped in a travel blanket when Nile makes it to the sitting room, teeth brushed and dressed. Nile has her comb and hair products, she wants to try some spiral braids but it will take time to do and she wants to be comfortable.  
“Nicky kick you out of bed?” Nile asks as she sits down in the armchair.  
“My all, has forsaken me.”  
“Really?”  
“I have been abandoned and banished from his arms.”  
“I am washing the bed things, there was sand in the sheets.” Nicky, brings her a coffee from the kitchen, sitting on the edge of the sofa, “He is being melodramatic.”  
“We could have stayed in bed a little longer.” Joe rubs his foot on Nicky’s back.  
Nicky turns to face Joe, “No.” he turns back to Nile. “Do you have things that need washing?”  
“Yes, do you want me to get them?”  
“The machine still has some time to run. You are doing little french plaits?”  
“Braids, yes. How did you sleep?”  
“Better than last night, I did not wake until dawn.”  
Joe makes a disgruntled sound.  
“Yes, my love?”  
“It was before dawn.”  
“Yet you did not get up to pray.”  
Joe shoots Nicky a glare. “I could have gotten up but I wanted to be with you.”  
“There was sand in the bed.”  
“Yes there was but there would have been sand still later and I could have had you in my arms for that time. Instead of you up and working.”  
“No, Yusef” Nickt snaps, turning back to him “There was sand in the bed, the sheets needed washing, I needed washing, lunch needed to be made, the entry is full of sand. Work needed to be done.” Nicky is shaking.  
Joe moves to kneel on the sofa next to Nicky hesitating to touch him, before putting an arm across his shoulders, kissing his forehead. “Mio tutto, beloved, I am sorry, I did not mean you should leave things not done merely that I wished to spend time with you. You are right of course work comes first.”  
Nicky pulls Joe’s arm until Joe is hugging him, Joe's body pressed to Nicky's side, Nicky head tucked onto a shoulder. Nicky turns his head to kiss Joe’s cheek, “I know, mio amore, but my mind, it started listing jobs and I could not rest. Sorry.”  
“You did nothing wrong, my love.”  
Nile gets up to leave the two of them alone, Nicky grabs her arm, gently pulling her into the hug, she could pull free but she folds onto Nicky’s lap.”Grazie” Nicky seems to relax more under her weight.  
“I was just giving you two privacy.”  
“I do not need it.” Nicky mumbles into her shoulder. The guys breath tickles her neck as the air moves in different directions, until everyone's breathing sinks up. They stay like that until the oven timer bleeps. Nicky lets Nile stand up getting up himself. “I made quiche with roasted vegetables for lunch, some pasta and I think we will also have the rolls with jelly. Of course cheese and fruit.” Nicky walks into the kitchen.  
“That all sounds good, Nicky. Thank you.” Nile tells his back as he walks away.  
“No problem.” He calls from the Kitchen.  
Joe runs his hands through his hair once Nicky is out of sight, letting out a breath, he shoots Nile a tight smile before sitting back down.  
“I am going to get my dirty washing, where should I put it?”  
“By the cleaning cupboard, the wash machine is in there, put it with ours if you don’t mind it mixing.”  
“I think we can tell out stuff apart, is there a system or all one pile?”  
“Nicky will deal with it, I do not interfere.”  
Nile nods, walking off. She collects her pile of washing from where she has been keeping it at the end of the bed, debates stripping the bed, but she showered all the sand off before sleeping last night. Still she should vacuum the rug and sweep the floor, maybe later. Nicky is in the kitchen, there are steaming containers on the counter and he is buttering rolls.  
“I put my washing in the pile, do you want me to get Andy’s?”  
“No, I’ll send Joe with coffee once I have done this. Are you keeping your hair like that?” Nicky waves the knife in a rough circle between them. Nile raises her hands to her head, she has only done one and a half braids, the rest is still partitioned in bunches, it must look a mess.  
“No, I will go and finish this.”  
Nile returns to her armchair and goes back to braids, Joe’s is busy with his notebook.  
“Drawing or killing Booker in poetry form?” Nile asks two braids later as she flexes her fingers to move the blood around. Joe has been tapping his pen against his lip for a little while.  
“I am trying to think of a word that rhymes with écorcher, maybe I should use dépouiller, but I like the other meanings écorcher has; it’s more violent. Still there is a clinical-ness to dépouiller.” Joe looks at Nile like she could help with his word choice.  
“I don't know what those words mean, my French is Yes, No, Please, Thank you and one beer.”  
“They both mean to skin an animal but écorcher is more violent, more fail or abrade, war like, dépouiller is more like work like, for preparing meat.”  
“Tough choice.” Nile tells him, finishing her coffee to keep from continuing the conversation. Joe hums his agreement and writes something down.  
Nile has done another braid when Nicky comes to take their empty coffee cups, returning with four mugs. He takes his place on the sofa with his mug as Joe eyes the fourth.  
“Your braids are looking pretty, Nile, they all spiral from the top of your head.”  
“It would be neater if some else did it.” Nile shakes her fingers out again “And my fingers would not lose circulation so much.”  
There is a pause and then Joe distractedly states “It looks very nice Nile.” While never taking his eye off the forth mug.  
“Would it be hard to learn to do?” Nicky offer hangs shyly between them.  
“I don’t think so Nicky but can I find someone to teach you. I would love to have box braids again, I have not had them since high school.” Nile smiles at him, “Thank you for the offer.”  
Nicky gives her a half smile and settles into the sofa. Joe looks at him, then the fourth mug.  
“I am not taking that to her.”  
“Yes you are.” Nicky keeps his mug close to his mouth to hide the twitch in the corner of his mouth from Joe.  
“She will throw things at me.”  
“Give her this too and bring out any washing you can find.” Nick hands Joe the ibuprofen. Joe stands and takes the forth mug, walking slowly towards Andy’s room. They hear Joe knock and open the door, there is a thud, muffled talking, another thud and then more taking. Joe emerges with a pile of clothes that he adds to the others. He sits back down next to Nicky who leans on to his shoulder.  
Nile finishes braiding her hair, raising to put her things back in her hair and wash her hands. She pauses at Andy’s door but does not hear anything. The guys are not in the sitting room on her return, Nile can see Nicky in the entry sorting the washing. Nile finds Joe in the kitchen, he is doing the washing up, Nile moves to help dry up. Nile hears the washing machine bleep that it’s finished, Nicky empty it, then load it again. Then the apartment door open and close. Nile moves to see what is happening.  
“There are lines on the roof, to dry things. It is better than the rack for big things.” Joe tells her.  
“Oh, okay.” Nile goes back to putting away, her tummy rumbles.  
“I will make breakfast once we have finished.” Joe reassures her.  
“It’s Friday.”  
“Yes.”  
“Do.” Nile pauses, second guessing what she is about to ask, “Do we need to find a mosque, for you, for prayers.”  
“No, I,” Joe plants his feet slightly wide, straightens his back, like he is reading for a fight. “have sent my first life and many subsequent lives is places where nearly everyone is Muslim and Friday is the start of the weekend, I find the converted shops and houses a little sad. It’s not that they are unholy and you can not feel a deeper, more encompassing connection with Allah there, just, I dislike hiding away and like the world around me saying I should be ashamed.” Joe looks at Nile. “It is a personal opinion and not one share by others, Nicky has no issue with churches in Muslim countries. I have been told I am wrong and I might be but I have free will and I use it.” Joe pulls the plug out of the sink. “I also might have issues with the Imans of late, religion has its fashions and I am out of fashion. You will find that out in time.”  
Nile nods, she kind of gets being uncomfortable in a place of worship, nothing wrong with the church but just being out of place, not knowing anyone. Church for her has always been social as well as spiritual.  
“Do you want to go to church on Sunday?”  
Nile puts away the last of the pans. “I think I should, I want to, what with it being my funeral yesterday.” Nile starts drying the cutlery “It’s just I don’t want to go to a service with everyone knowing everyone and me standing out. I want the connection to something more.”  
Joe nods in agreement or understanding, anything he was going to say is interrupted by Nicky coming in the door to the apartment calling “I have returned.”  
“I thought you had abandoned us, why were you gone so long?” Joe is grinning at Nile.  
“The woman in the flat above needed my assistance. I took her washing up for her and then her drying rack. I think I will take ours up to the roof with the next load.” Nicky is at the kitchen doors eyes moving between the two of them.  
“Am I going to have competition for your affections? Joe teases.  
“She is a woman of later years, grey hairs and with a walking stick,” Nicky points to himself and waves his hands down his body. “I am a nice young man.”  
“You are my nice young man.”  
“Yes, I am. Your advanced years on me are very clear for all to see.” Nicky walks up to Joe, inspecting his head, “In fact is that gray I can see?”  
Joe pulls Nicky into his arms rubbing his bread on Nicky’s neck “No it is not.”  
“How much older are you Joe?” Nile asks moving away from the mass of Nicky and Joe as Nicky tries to break free while also trying to retaliate.  
“Around three years.” Joe tells her once Nicky is free.  
“What were the two of you talking about when I came in?”  
“Nile asked if I was going to Friday prayers.”  
“In Spain?” Nicky sounds like this is the most ridiculous thing he has heard.  
“I didn’t know Joe doesn't go in Christian countries.” Nile defends herself.  
“Scusa, errore mio, my error” Nicky corrects into English, “I meant no offence.”  
“Nicky, Nile wishes to go to church on Sunday.”  
“Mass?” Nicky asks, almost hopeful.  
Nile thinks about Nicky’s suggestion, Catholic mass is not a service she has ever been to before. She attended mixed chaplaincy services on base, they were a bit of everything and nothing, filling a need but not like going to church at home. That is not an option any more. She gets where Joe is coming from about that feeling of things not sitting right, but she should at least try. If she goes for something completely different from her home services maybe there will not be the jarring she feels when the changes are small. It’s not like Catholicism is a completely different religion. Nicky talked about a clear line between his first life and this one and okay that was make-up but this is a small change. It will be another new experience. Nile is aware of Nicky looking at her.  
“I was not raised a Catholic but I have not seen a Presbyterian church and I am going to feel out of place anyway, it’s all going to be in Spanish or Latin and I don’t know how much of the sermon I will follow. Also I hope the fact the service is different will keep me here not get lost in my own head. So why not, I want the connection to something bigger and other people but also to be anonymous. Am I making sense?” Nile has a thought, “You can go if you're not Catholic?”  
“Yes, to mass all are welcome but not to take communion after.” Nicky gives her a half smile, “I can go with you if you wish.”  
“You don’t mind?”  
“Why would I mind?” Nicky looks confused, Nile shrugs and tries to indicate something that implies, you have opinions on the Catholic church, it’s not the same church as when you were a priest, I don’t know what you believe, this thing you have about knowing where Joe is all the time, without saying any of that and upsetting the guys. Nile does not know if he gets the message but Nicky continues “If I was unwilling to be there I would not offer. We could go to one of the bigger churches in the old town.”  
“Not the Cathedral?”  
“Cathedrals are not for worship they are for business.” Nicky’s tone is disapproving.  
Joe meets Nile’s eyes from behind Nicky, then rolls his eyes, nearly making Nile laugh, she is saved by her rumbling tummy. “Joe said he would make breakfast.”  
“Then we will leave him to it.” Nicky ushers Nile out of the kitchen.  
Andy shuffles out of her bedroom to join them in the sitting room, easing herself into an armchair.  
“Joe is making breakfast.” Nicky tells her once she is seated.  
Andy nods. “Then you're going out.”  
“Yes, to the wetland do you wish to join us?” Nicky has made no secret of watching Andy as she moves.  
“Going by bike?”  
“Yes.” Nicky confirms.  
“No, I am staying put. I ache, but before you ask, no bleeding.”  
Nicky nods, turning back to Nile, he asks about Presbyterian church services and what she knows about Catholic ones.  
Joe shouts for breakfast for them to come eat, Nicky has to help Andy out of the armchair. Breakfast when Nile gets to the table is oatmeal with fruit, nuts, seeds and coconut. Joe has put the jars of jelly and honey on the table, he adds a large dollop of the strawberry jelly to his oatmeal, Andy adds honey. Nicky eats his plain. Nile try hers before she adds anything, Joe has added spices too, it’s good like this.  
Conversation is light not really about anything, most teasing Andy for being old and sore.

Nile is washing up as the guys take the washing up to the roof, the third load in the machine. Andy takes her vitamin pill watching Nile.  
“I ache in places I should only ache if I had something far more pleasurable than a bike between my legs. Sex has never made my thights stiff, no matter now long I road him for.”  
“I did need to know that Andy.”  
“Well now you do.”  
“A hot bath might help, I can run you one, I saw some bath salts on the shelf, that stuff is meant to help.”  
Andy runs her fingers over Nile’s ear with a smile. “You need to stop propositioning me child, you said you had no interest and your fathers’ will not believe it was all your idea. Father’s never do.”  
“A) I was not propositioning you, it’s not my fault that everything at one time or another has been used to mean sex, B) It was an offer of help, C) not my fathers, D) not a child, E) still no interest..”  
Andy snots, removing her hand, a smile still on her face. “You are a good woman, Nile. You’ll watch over my boys when, if anything was to happen to me. All three of them.”  
“Nothing's going to happen to you, not for years and years, Andy, sore mussels are not going to kill you. Make you wish you were dead, but not actually do it.”  
“But you will when the time comes.” Andy has gone all serious, meeting Nile’s eyes.  
“Yes, Of course.”  
“Promise me.”  
Nile sighs, puts a hand over her heart and raises the other, “I Nile Freeman do promise to watch over and care for Nicolo Di Genova, Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Sébastien le Livre, should anything happen to you Andy.” Nile puts her hands down, going back to the washing up. “Happy now?”  
“Very.” Andy pats her shoulder walking slowly out of the room. Nile hears the bath start to run the same time as the guys come back in the apartment door.  
“We will go soon, Nile, bring a change of clothes, it may be necessary, I am going to speak to Andy.” Nicky pauses at the kitchen door.  
“Swimming costume too, we might get to swim.” Joe stays in the doorway smiling at her.  
“I have never done wild swimming.”  
“Wild swimming?” Joe questions the term.  
“In a lake or river, you know in the wild.”  
“Where else would you swim?” Before Nile can answer he continues, “Ah, in the baths, I suddenly want to call you a city girl like Andy calls me a city boy.”  
“Chicago, born and raised.” Nile says with pride. Joe laughs.  
Nile brushes past him to go collect clothes from her room, she can hear Andy and Nicky talking in Andy’s bedroom. So, she grabs a towel from the bathroom, turning the bath taps off, dumping a dose of bath salts into the water, swirling it around to help dissolve the crystals. Joe is packing the rucksacks on the dining room table, food, a lot of drinks, cups, plates, blankets and pillows, he takes her clothes and towel. Nicky follows behind Nile with clothes for him and Joe, Andy in only underpants and a bra is behind him. The waterproof plaster is bright on her stomach, the other cuts and bruises have faded. Joe takes the last items from Nicky.  
“Nicky, go away, take the others with you, your fussing is annoying. I will eat the lunch you left me, I will bring down your washing, I will take up the washing, I will keep my phone on me. I will not over do it.”  
“Andy, I just need to know you will be okay without us all day.”  
“You think I can’t cope without you to look after me.” Andy is accusing.  
“Andy.” Nile warns.  
Andy ruffles Nicky’s hair, “Go have fun, I am going to have a bath.” She shoots a look at Nile. “then a nap. I will do your list of jobs.”  
“Two things, I asked you to do two things.” Nicky points out.  
“And I will do them, now go.”  
The three of them head down stairs with a rucksack each, Andy all but kicking them out of the apartment. The bike rental place Joe takes them to is at the entrance to the Old town across the bridge from the apartment. The rental place is just opening, they have to wait for the door to be unlocked to go in. Joe makes a comment about getting electric bikes for them, to which Nicky calls him lazy. Joe hires three normal bikes, locks and helmets for them. These bikes look a bit different, blue in color and more stylish than the ones they had yesterday, but the principle remains the same. Nicky explains that the route will be on the road and that they will not have cycle paths the whole way. Nicky tells Nile not to be afraid to tell them to stop, lorries and buses passing close by can be scary the first few times. Nile nods, not wanting to point out she has seen combat and had IED go off on her conveys, because she will lose any game of one up man-ship with these two and combat is combat, this is different. She appreciates the heads up.  
Nicky keeps them on the cycle routes as they skirt the old town, past the department store and then around past the bull ring and train station. They cycle the edge of another formally laid out park and under a flyover. The cycle route keeps going along a main road until they turn off at box junction with a fountain on one side, then they are on the road with the cars. The area is built-up, the cars don’t move fast but they are close, the bus as it passes whips air around Nile, wobbling the bike a little. The lorry that passes is even worse, added to the wind, is the sound and the smell to make an almost physical assault. Nile will admit to herself that it is a little scary, she is glad this road does not have vehicles travelling at full speed. They cross the River Turia, where it now flows, there is only a small stream of water cutting a path down the middle of the grassy plain, Nile can see trees growing out of the river bed. They cut across the pedestrian crossing instead of going around the next roundabout so they can use the cycle route on the bridge to cross the railway tracks again, keep on the cycle way until they cross another bridge and are in farmland. Here they are cycling on the roads but there is also less traffic, Nile loosens the grip she has had on the handlebars as Joe cycles up beside her, grin on his face, here they can talk again and it’s relaxing. The country lane joins a main road with a cycle lane again, there are woods on the far side, the farmland soon gives way to reeds and marshes and then the lake. They pass two jetties that take people out for boat trips on the lake. Crossing the bridge over the channel out of the lake, Nile can see the dam to control the water level. They go past some sort of wildlife center, but it’s not open for visitors, when they slow to read the signs. Nicky brings them to a stop outside the visitor center. They lockup the bikes, taking a drink and stretching their legs.  
The three of the take a quick look around the visitors center, Nicky studying the map of trails, Nile is not sure what Joe is doing she watches him reach his hand out a couple of times before pulling it back as glancing at Nicky’s back as he looking at the information on the history of the area, the third time he does this, Nile walks up to him, indicating the door with her chin. The two of them head outside, Nile hopes the gesture Nicky makes means he has tracked them and knows to meet them, his eyes never leave the map.  
“Been here before?”  
“Asia family fished these waters, the lake was bigger then, it didn’t connect, until now.”  
“Do we tell Nicky?”  
“He will be upset if I don’t. He will know I am keeping something from him.”  
Nile moves to stand next to Joe as they wait for Nicky offering support, Joe gives her a nudge and a tight smile.  
“Do I wish to know?” Nicky asks when he sets eyes on them.  
Joe huff out a breath, “looking at the history, the changing shape of the lake and it’s name, Asia family fished here.”  
“Safer than on the sea.” Nicky responds, “did they teach you to fish?”  
“No my grandfather, but it gave us something to talk about when I was courting her.”  
Nicky nods, “I think we will take this path then once we come to the botanical trail we will go along that, it is in the woods and we should find somewhere away from everyone else.” he sounds a little upset, voice tight.  
“Are you mad at Joe?” Nile checks.  
“No, he had a life before me.” Nicky sighs, “I am upset that I am jealous of that life. I just was until I met Yusuf, he was living.”  
Joe wraps Nicky up in a hug as Nile says, “That’s the most romantic thing I have heard, well not ever, ‘cos” she waves a hand at Joe, “but the last few days, for sure.”  
Nicky smiles, “He will see that as a challenge.”  
“What challenge, my all’s love for me is true and pure, his words sooth my soul. But whatever life I had before him, was lived in the black night for he is my Moon and only where he is does the moonlight shine.”  
Nile and Nicky share a look before Nicky pulls away from Joe, pulling him onto the path, then a short while later onto a trail, the trees and bushes are dense and there is no-one else around. Nicky finds a gap in the vegetation and a track to follow. The track curves around the trees away from the trail and out of sight, Nicky stops in a space free of bushes, trees over head, Joe looks around him and seems happy. They place their rucksack by a large tree and clear the stones and sticks from the ground. Happy that the ground is clear, Nicky and Nile work through the forms for hand to hand combat, checking that they have numbered them the same. Joe has been wondering around the edge of the clearing; he has a collection of sticks by the time Nile and Nicky are ready to fight. Joe shouts out numbers Nile attacks and defends depending on the number, then Joe calls combinations of defense and attack, Nile hears her forearm crack, dropping that shoulder, keeping her arm out of use, she tries to keep going and work through it. Joe calls a stop for a drink when Nile still has not raised her shoulder, keeping her arm back, two combinations later. Nile’s arm is fine, the bone has healed, it’s her mind that was keeping it out of use.  
Joe asks if Nile has ever done any work with batons or quarterstaff, Nile has not. Joe shows Nile a dozen forms with a short stick from his collection, then a dozen with a much longer stick, they are all given names as they go through the forms a second time. Joe has very little to say to correct Nile. so he wants to move onto combat.  
Nicky makes Nile put her bike helmet back on, which she agrees to only if Nicky does the same. They go with the quarterstaff first, Joe calling names, Nile finds out why Nicky wanted her to put the helmet on, even with it on her head rings from the blow he landed. Three combos later she gets her own head shot in, then has her legs sweep out from under her as she celebrates. Nile jumps back up ready to go again, laughing. Joe does not call out any more names but with a nod, Nicky comes back to a starting position, Joe calls out two head shots or three falls. Nile and Nicky free spar with the quarterstaff sticks, It’s not Nicky’s weapon of choice and Nile gets the chance to push an attack. Nile sweeps Nicky’s feet from under him, keeping back so he can not knock her down. Nicky does not do this when he sweeps Nile so she sweeps him to the floor with her with a laugh. Nicky lands a cracks on her helmet as they get up, both circling each other. Nicky presses an advantage, in a fast set of blows that Nile struggles to defend, Nile gets a jab into his chest and he backs off. Nile presses an attack and falls back unable to get a sweep or head shot. She tries again, falls back, Nicky surges forward, Nile falls for his faint and drops her quarterstaff to sweep his feet, Nicky taps her helmet. Joe seems really happy with what he saw, Nile feels great, wants to go again. Joe smiles at her, congratulating her and telling her to take a drink. Nile drinks her drink eating the fruit Joe gives her.  
They move onto the short sticks next, Joe calls a few singular names before making combos, it’s fast paced and Nicky gets a few jabs to her chest, he has a strength advantage on Nile and the skill to use it. Something happens with one of the jabs that leave Nicky’s stick stuck between Nile and her bra strap, enclosed in her t-shirt. The scratch on Nile’s chest has healed before she even finds it, a tiny amount of blood on her skin. Nicky’s mouth keeps coming up at the corners. Nile gives Nicky his stick back and they go again, Joe calls out a stream of names, then Nile and Nicky are going at it without instruction, Nile throws a punch on one attack, Nicky lip curls up and they are hitting and kicking at each as well. Nile is not sure how it happens but she is on the floor Nicky on top of her, his stick against her throat, her stick out of her hand. Nicky is breathing almost as hard as Nile is. Joe calls time on the bout, haling Nicky up and moving him away from Nile, before helping Nile up. Nile finishes her bottle of drink, feeling full of happy endorphins, jumping around the clearing staying away from the guys, as Joe and Nicky have a whispered conversation. Joe forces a drink onto Nicky and a piece of cheese, becoming Nile over.  
“Having fun?” Joe asks.  
“Yes, I really like the quarterstaff, I know I’m not great but something about it fits with me, you understand?”  
“Yes, you seem to have some talent with the quarterstaff, I think if we can get you a telescopic baton to use in close combat, you might find it useful. It will extend your reach and make use of your lower center of gravity.”  
“Was that you making a short comment?” Nile teases.  
“No, I was being practical, Nicky.” Joe pleads for help.  
“A telescopic baton would be good for you I think, I am very impressed.” Nicky pats her shoulder. “Would you like to try with a knife?”  
“Nicolo!” Joe grabs Nicky’s hand.  
“Nile would have the knife not me, to first blood.” Nicky turns back to Nile, “Or we can go with the quarterstaff, again.”  
“Can we do swords, I know we don’t have real swords but can we do some work with the sticks?”  
“Yes, we can do that.” Nicky, moves to pick up a different set of sticks, thicker and flatter than the last two. Nicky gives one to Nile and they work through the forms and move to spare. Joe calls out attacks for Nile or Nicky there are a couple of combos, but Nile can tell things are not flowing, Nicky is frustrated, he is not as clean, as clinical as before, Nile can feel herself getting annoyed. Nile does not know if it’s her or the ‘swords’ or that they are not playing with knives that’s up set Nicky, but something has, she calls a stop to the bout.  
“What is the issue?” Joe comes to stand between them, arms apart as if to push them away from each other.  
“Ask Nicky.” it comes out harder than Nile expected, she is more upset than she thought.  
“Nicky?” Joe turns to face him.  
“Even as practice swords these sticks are inadequate, the hilt is wrong, there is no pommel and no guard, there is no point or edge and the weight is off.” Nicky throws his stick sword down, round on Joe with a burst of Italian. Joe keeps his body language open and his replies calm, Nicky shouts at him about something else and toward the end Nile hears the word Booker.  
“He is not mad at you, Nile.” Although Joe is still standing between her and Nicky, Nile can see Nicky face jerk up at that. Nicky says something in Italian and then pauses and takes a deep breath. “Why would I be mad at Nile, she is trying to learn a skill I can not teach because I do not have the tools. She is trying to learn many skills and we are falling her. How is any of that her fault?”  
“You're not failing me. I’ve learnt new stuff and you keep telling me I’ve got years, I don’t need to learn it all at once. These last two weeks I done a whole bunch of stuff I never thought I would do or I’d never done before.”  
“Most people only fall out of buildings the once and it’s not a thing to aim for.” Nicky has got a contrary note to his voice.  
“I jumped out of the building.” Nile starts listing things on her fingers, “Learnt to ride a bike, Been to France, England, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Andorra, walked in roman ruins, been in the Mediterranean sea. Make bread, well I helped with the rolls. Never though I sit around listening to poetry.”  
Both guys are silent for a few seconds.  
“Yes, of course Nile, sorry, yes, this must be a different life. You seem to be fitting in so well I forget it must be a big shock to your life as it was to mine. I just want to do right by you.” Nicky moves toward her, to touch her in reassurance and Joe hesitates to let him past for half a second.  
“You are.” Nile pats his hand on her shoulder.  
“You have never made bread?” Joe comes back to that point on Nile's list.  
“No.”  
“She is a warrior, Joe, why would her mother have her in the kitchen.” Nicky moves back to take up his ‘sword’, Joe’s head follows Nicky’s movement.  
“My Mom did not make bread.” Nile tells them both.  
Nicky pauses as he picks up his ‘sword’ “Where did you get bread from?”  
“The shop.”  
Both of them pause again, Nile thinks it should not be a hard concept for them since they buy bread in the supermarket, so it must be some basic concept of theirs. “I take it, both of your Moms made bread?”  
“We had servants, but it was made in the house and I learnt as part of my kitchen chores at the seminary.” Nicky tells her, Joe shoots him a look, “It was part of the punishment I received in the seminary.” Nicky corrects himself.  
“My mother did and Asia, even though we had servants, for festivals, Booker’s Mother did and his wife, when they had a kitchen.”  
Nile takes a moment to process the sheer amount of information in those sentences and what it means. By the time she is done Nicky is prodding Joe with the ‘sword’ to make him move. Nile offers hers to Joe. He takes it squaring off to Nicky. Nile can tell the bout between them is all play, Joe is being very flashy and Nicky is not pressing any of the gaps she can see. Nile recognize that it takes a lot of skill to play this stupidly, you have to do it right before you can play at doing wrong and every so often they will do something that needs skill, like blocking a blow behind their back, swirling out of the way while swinging the sword to block or attack and jumping while attacking. Nile can see when Joe gets annoyed with the ‘swords’, a move does not work, he smacks into Nicky’s hand. They stop shortly after.  
“When we get back to the apartment, I will look for training swords and telescopic batons. This is not helpful for learning.” Joe chucks the sword into the bushes.  
“Can I play with knives?” Nile has been thinking about this as they fought.  
“Yes, forms, drill, then to first blood.” Joe stomps over to his rucksack. Nicky lights up, joining him to take out what is basically a K-Bar knife to give to Nile. The forms are almost identical to what the Marines taught her. They move on to the drill and Nicky blocks, mostly with the short stick, occasional with the bulk of this arm or knee. Nile doesn't get to land a hit and really wants to learn the defensive baton work, where her concentration is, must be clear to Joe as he tells her he will get practice knives as well. Joe restarts the drill and the best Nile does is catch Nicky’s top, the hole is small and she did not break the skin. Nicky removes his top and puts it in one of the bags. The fight is a free for all, Nile gets her legs sweeps more then once, she lands some punches and kicks, she find herself feeling tired, sweating and short of breath, Nicky is not doing much better, his whole chest flush with sweat. Nile darts the knife out as she ducts under Nicky’s right arm, dodging the left hand, her other hand going for his knee. By the time she has done a 360, Joe is calling a stop, a line of red marks the side of Nicky’s ribs. Nile had not even felt the drag on her knife. Nicky licks his thumb, bringing it down to wash the blood away. Joe tisks at him, giving him a wet wipe to clean up.  
Joe waves the packet at Nile, “You should change your top.” Nicky tells her. Nile thinks he is being rude and it must show on her face, “The back of it is a mess.”  
Nile takes the wet wipe and her spare top a little bit way from the clearing, when Nile pulls her top off, the back is covered in mud and leaves and little spots of blood, they had not gotten rid of all the stones. Nile cleans up as best she can.

When Nile comes back from changing tops and cleaning off the blood on her, Nicky had laid down a travel blanket to put the food on, in a grassy space surrounded by trees, they have used for sparing. Joe is sitting on a pillow, Nicky still shirtless, head resting on Joe's lap, body on another blanket, opposite them is a pillow and blanket for Nile. Joe is running his fingers over the spot when Nile had landed her only hit, long since healed. Nile sits down and fills her plate with food, looking around, she still feels a bit guilty for wandering off the path when the signs said not to but they had needed somewhere private, especially how into it she and Nicky had gotten. Through the trees she could see the lake, the little one, not the big one.  
“Can we go on one of the boat tours after lunch?” Nile asks the guys.  
“Up for a boat trip my all?”  
“I do not have any objections.” Nicky sounds relaxed, fingers moving up and down Joe’ arm.  
“Not even if I told you there where crocodiles.”  
Nicky sits up and pouches Joe with some force at the same time Nile asks, “There are no crocodiles, they are not native to Europe”  
“See, now you have upset Nile too, My love.” Nicky stands up taking the blanket with him coming to sit next to Nile. Nile lifts her arm so he can put his head on her leg. “See, my love, Nile is now my favorite.” Nicky tells Joe once he is settled. Nile smiles sweetly at Joe.  
Joe, smiles back at her, filling his plate with food. “You will not enjoy her feeding you, my all.”  
Nile sees that as a challenge and offers Nicky a piece of the roll, Nicky eats it. He eats the second and third bit before sitting up. Nicky has gone very red, he stammers out. “Sorry, Nile, You are sweet to try but Joe is correct, this is very wrong.” before getting up, wrapping the blanket around himself and walking away. Joe shakes his head when Nile starts to rise to go after him.  
“He will be back in a few minutes, let him calm down.”  
“Did you just trick me into a sex thing?” Nile is horrified at her own thought.  
“No” Joe laughs, “but it is a level of intimacy that Nicky only feels comfortable sharing with me.” He continues once he has his breath back. “He will lay on Booker, even, contentedly. But no one else can feed him. He has tried this with all of us and failed.”  
Nicky returns from the trees behind Joe, he goes to the rucksack to take out his t-shirt to put back on and gives Joe a quick kiss, before taking a seat between the two of them and filling his own plate.  
“Since we are upsetting Nicky, why do you hate crocodiles, so much?”  
“They are wrong.” Nicky's voice is full of vitriol, “They are the devil's own creatures, a curse upon the world, made by the first Jinn as revenge on human kind.”  
“Okay.” Nicky’s passionate hatred is what Nile expects but not the words, Nicky is the scholar among them, a man of science and that was all medieval superstition. “You know that crocodiles are older than dinosaurs.” Nile has a panicked thought, “You do believe in evolution, right? That the dinosaurs were real? The Earth is not flat?”  
“Who thinks the Earth is flat?” Joe asks, shocked as Nicky gives Nile a half smile. “Even Frankish Nicolo knew the Earth was round. He had some strange ideas about the Sun going around the Earth, but he knew it was round”  
“People on the internet, American Christians mostly.” Nile is sheepish in her response, she is a little ashamed of her people. “They are also the ones that don’t believe in evolution and dinosaurs.”  
“I admitted you were correct Yusuf.” Nicky says to Joe, he turns to Nile. “I felt the same way about my people, ashamed of the things that are untrue they believe, they are not taught to know better. It suits the rulers to keep the people ignorant. How could I not believe in evolution when I have lived long enough to see it happen. Look at carrots, for instance, in fact almost any fruit or vegetable, cows, sheep, dogs, the horses we all learn to ride on are different from the ones you ride today, the list goes on. Dinosaurs as they were long ago, I believe in, more so because of mammoths and the other megafauna, I have seen cave paintings and remains of them. The time of the dinosaurs was so very long ago. But they are not lost to us, they have become birds now due to evolution. Anyone who has come across a Nandu, a Rhea or a Casuario could not doubt they are living dinosaurs.”  
This is the Nicky, Nile knows, “Then why the medieval view on crocodiles?”  
Joe laughs, “It is true Nicky, your view has not changed, since you first encountered them.”  
“It has no need to change, they are hateful, evil creatures.” Nicky says stiffly.  
“What happened the first time you encountered them.” Nile asks.  
“Nothing happened, I saw these huge lizards, the dragons of fantasy stories of my childhood, they were unfamiliar and unsettling in a way nothing else was, but they were at a distance. That night they came into our camp, they are fast and hard to kill and they drag you into the water. They hunt you, they watch you, they trick you, they are malevolent.” Nicky is stabbing invisible things with his fork.  
“How many times have you been killed by crocodiles?”  
“I am up to five.” Nicky spreads out his hand, showing five fingers.  
“I only have two.” Joe raises two fingers. The rude ones. Nicky throws a piece of pasta at him, Joe catches it and eats it. They both smile at each other, a quick conversation of glances and twitches, that Nile can not follow, seeing only that there is gratitude and reassurance. Nile knows that the subject will change when they turn back to her, they are done on this subject for now. Nile thinks that maybe Nicky's hatred for crocodiles may be about more than crocodiles, as with so much else with these guys one thing leads to another, webs of connections across subjects and time, it will take a lifetime for her to understand.  
“There are Rhea living wild in Germany, that will have to go on your pro/com list.” Joe finally speaks.  
“It will make up for the lack of wolves.” Nicky says with a smile playing on his lips, a private joke between them.  
“I dislike braun bars” Joe turns back to Nile, she looks at him in confusion, “Orso bruno?”  
Nicky interrupts with “Brown bears.”  
“And those bloody river horses, they just care nothing for humans and have a bad temper.”  
“River horses?”  
“Flusspferd.” Joe tries again.  
“This is why going to the zoo is good. We can just point at animals.” Nicky gives her a half smile.  
“Ippopotamo” Joe shouts triumphantly.  
“Hippopotamus?” Nile clarifies.  
Joe and Nicky both shrug.  
“I have never seen any of them in the wild.” Nile tells them. “Hopefully I will get the chance, you know with everything.” She waves her hand to encompass the world.  
“We will point things out to you.” Nicky tells her sincerely.  
“Mostly to then tell you to run.” Joe laughs. Nicky nods.  
Nile sips her drink as the guys turn back to their food.  
“So, we are still good for a boat trip?”  
“Yes, Nile after lunch.” Nicky confirms.  
Nile turns back to eating, the guys turn the conversation onto Nile Marine training.

The walk to the boats is mostly uneventful, they come across a couple, who have also walked off the trail, but not that far, clearly enjoying each others company, Nicky and Nile have to drag Joe away, covering his mouth before he can offer advice or encouragement, not that the couple notices the three of them, busy as the where. Every time Nile meets Joe’s eyes the two of them start giggling. Not helped by Nicky grumbling they have been caught doing far more, then randomly saying wolves or bears to Joe, that will start him giggling again.

The boat sits in the water, lower than Nile thinks a boat should be without people on it. The whole design is different from anything she has seen on the Chicago river, but Nicky and then Joe step on board like they have been doing this longer than the staff. Which she guesses they have, probably by multiples of ten. Both Joe and Nicky have been asking questions, in a technical Spanish Nile can not follow. Two couples get on the boat, both men have cameras with big lenses, the women binoculars. With just the seven passengers on board the boat sets off. The guide talks about the lake and history, Nile tunes him out to look around. There are a lot of birds, which she guess is what the two couples are here to see. The guide soon starts pointing birds out. Nile hears the word ‘Flamingos’ and thinks that can’t be right, but no, there is a flock of flamingos on the edge of the lake. The duck and moorhens are a bit nothing after that. As the boat goes down a channel with the reed rising above Nile head, even when she stands up, the guide points out herons and a stork, both birds are far bigger than Nile thinks they should be, at around a meter tall. The boat is stopped so they can watch a stork hunt, it gets a frog on the fourth try and the boat moves on. When the boat gets back to the dock, they let the others get off first, Joe gets before Nile offering her an arm to help her off, which Nile takes, the boat is bobbing up and down, he does the same for Nicky which turns very flirty, real quick. Nile wanders off out of hearing distance but not sight so they can have some privacy together.  
“Not your boyfriend then?” One of the women from the boat asks.  
“Cousin and his husband.” Nile replies remembering the covers they have. The woman looks like she wants to talk and Nile is suddenly panicked by the thought, she is saved by the other woman from the boat calling her friend. Nile breathes a little easier, waiting for Nicky and Joe to join her.  
“Have fun Nile.” Nicky asks when they catch up to her.  
“Yes, we can add that to the list of things I’ve never done before.”  
Nicky throws an arm over her shoulder pulling her close to him, Joe joins her on the other side, Nicky fingertips brush his shoulder as they walk along the path back to where they left the bikes. Nile has this flash of Dorthy walking arm in arm with the Tinman and Lion along the yellow brick road. Nile wonder if they guys would get the reference, pop culture is a bit hit and miss with them. The ‘Wizard of Oz' is an old movie, so Nile gives the reference a try and Joe hums the ‘Follow the yellow brick road’ tune. They try to do the dance and trip each other up. Nile thinks the guy’s are trying to trip each other deliberately, the fifth time it happens. 

Back by the bikes, Nile study's the map of the area.  
“Looking for something?” Nicky points at the map.  
“Joe said something about swimming, but I can’t see that on the map.”  
Nicky gives the map a once over like he has no memorized it. “No swimming at the lake, but we could swim in the Mediterranean.”  
“I’ve not done that, so can we.”  
Nicky rearranges plans in his head, before agreeing. Nicky tells Joe the change of plans.  
“The water will be cool, we can not stay in long.” Joe tells her, “By we I mean you and I, Nicky will not be joining us.”  
“It was okay yesterday.” Nile points out.  
Joe eyebrows say this is a bad idea but his voice says okay.  
They cycle along the main trail they were on before, staying on it until they reach the sand dunes. They cycle through the dunes until they come to an empty car park with a place to lock up the bikes. A short walk later they are on a white sandy beach with only one family at a distance farther up the beach. Nick and Joe hold up the travel blanket as some kind of tent so Nile can change into her swimming costume, they do the same for Joe, with Nicky taking peaks as he changes. The sand is warm under Nile's feet, the sea is cool but Nile doesn't think it’s that cold until she gets her whole body in. Nile swims out to where the waves start breaking, then parallel to the shore line, then in land a bit and back to Joe, the swim parallel to each other in a similar oval in the other direction. Swimming has warmed her up some but not enough. She is annoyed that she has only twenty minutes, Joe tells her he didn’t expect her to last five. Getting dry is easy, Nile takes her costume off under the towel, pulling her underwear and trousers on, Nicky and Joe make her a tent again so she can get her bra and top on. The only hassle is getting her feet free enough of sand to put her shoe and socks on. Joe is having the same problem. Nicky is wisely not laughing at them but Nile can tell he wants to.

Nicky leads them back from the beach around the small lake, over a second pedestrian bridge over the exit channel, over wooden boards in the reed and tall grass, down a dirt track and onto a cycleway that passes through the dunes. The cycleway has wooden board sections but is mostly tarmac. They come to the mouth of the Turia, which is full of what must be sea water, there is a pedestrian bridge to cross the river and there is a cycleway all the way to the Turia park. They are back at the shop to drop the bikes off well before closing. Nicky admits he knew this route this morning but he wanted to save it for coming home when they were tried and not as alert. Nile can not fault his logic and it’s not like she was in any real danger this morning. It was an experience and she is all about new experiences now.

As soon as she enters the apartment, Nile knows something is wrong, Nicky has his knife out, Joe falling in behind him, Nile pushed into the corner, as they head to the bedrooms Nile walks into the kitchen, there are plates and cups in the sink. Andy’s vitamin pills are gone from the counter. The guys clear the apartment, as Nile walks into the sitting room. Andy is nowhere to be found, the washing is piled on the dining room table, the drying rack next to the table. Nile takes the note left on top:  
Gone out back later  
There is a signature underneath that Nile guess is Andy’s name in some long dead language, under that is:  
Nile,  
I will be back soon, look after the boys for me.  
Nicky,  
I am fine, don't worry.  
Joe,  
Don’t let the others worry too much, I know what I am doing and am still the boss of all of you.

“I am going to kill her” Nile hands the note to Joe. Joe passes the note to Nicky then leaves the flat, Nicky does not notice Joe has left as Nile maneuvers him to the sofa.  
“Where would she go?” Nicky sounds so lost as Nile leans him onto her shoulder, hand pressed to the back of his neck, on finger scratching his hair.  
“The car has gone.” Joe tells them on his return.  
“Why would she leave us? What did we do wrong? What did she need that we could not give her?” Nicky is crying. Joe sits the other side of Nicky, pulling him into a hug, keeping Nile’s hand in place, whispering into his hair words of reassurance. After a few minutes the feeling of Nicky changes under Nile’s hand, skin heating up with embarrassment. Joe lets him pull up, keeping his hands on Nicky’s shoulders. “She left us a note, my all. Written on paper in pen, not blood on the walls like that time in Yerevan”  
Nicky’s laugh is small and sob-like. “I guess she can still learn.”  
“How far is Goussainville from here?” Nile asks Nicky.  
“It is 12-14 hours, from here by car.” Nicky says automatically, “Why?”  
“It’s where she’s gone, to salvage what she can from the safe house.”  
“How do you know?” Nicky turns to Nile, Joe clings to his back, hooking his head over Nicky’s shoulder, as Nicky takes his hands..  
“She thinks she is helping.” Nile starts to list off things on her fingers. “You both said you wanted your swords back, because it's hard to get new ones and Nicky will feel more comfortable. You need the bank account numbers, so we can make a new safe house. Getting that set up gives Nicky a purpose and a plan which will make him more stable. You are all worried about people finding the safe house and finding you, cleaning it out protects all of you. I guess you have left things there over the years. If someone is watching the place they will not capture Andy, she will get away or die.” Nile steals herself, “She asked me, this morning, to promise to look after you two and Booker, when she dies.”  
Nicky falls back on to Joe, “I wish she would have spoken to us about leaving, waited a few more days. It is very annoying that she just goes off and makes unilateral decisions.”  
“She is our Boss.”  
“I know.”  
“We pledge allegiance to her.”  
“I know.”  
“Our monarch, our sovereign, our chieftain, our governatore, our leader. Andy is the banner we march under, the flag we follow.” Nile can tell this is not Joe’s hyperbole but they have chosen to follow her over everyone else.  
“I know”  
“It is not a democracy.”  
“She is a benign dictator, the best possible type of leader.” Joe laughs at Nicky’s joke. Nicky sighs and pulls Joe's arm tight around himself.  
“We will go to the airport and use the WiFi to contact Copley, he can at least look out for her. We could go book into a hotel, we could still do that tonight and contact him from there, but the airport will muddy the water in regards to our location.”  
“No, I. No tomorrow. Outside has too many people, too many variables. The airport is a good idea.” Nicky is speaking to Joe's hands and Nile knows how hard it must have been to say that, to tell them what he is feeling. Nile extends her hand into Nicky's reach so he can take it if he wants, he does, she watches him move the rings from one finger to another, the metal warm on her skin.  
“Then we will go to the zoo.” Nile tells them both.  
“Really, Nile.” Joe stares at her, Nicky does not pause in this movement.  
“Public but private, it was the plan, yesterday, Andy knew that and it gives us something to do, keeps us occupied.” Nile's eyes flick to Nicky. “I would burn the smart phone to call Copley not the laptop, in case you need to take things off the phone tonight. That’s a point, did Andy take her mobile?”  
“Check her room.” Joe turns back to focus on Nicky, Nile thinks Nicky is looking a little calmer, less distraught and more resigned to Andy’s behavior, Nile waits until her hand is free of rings to tug it out of Nicky's grasp.  
Nile looks around Andy’s bedroom, in the bedside table she finds four notes, one addressed to her, one Nicolo, one Sebastian, the last she guesses is Joe but the name is in Arabic, the paper is from the hotel in Andorra, the first few lines of her note tell Nile all she needs to know of the contents. She folds the note back-up, pocketing the lot, the guys don’t need to read them, not now, hopefully not for a great many years. Nile finds the smartphone, the map still showing a route to Goussenville, but not the dumb phone. Nile can hear the sound of Joe's voice as she exits the room, a murmur that might be Nicky’s reply, then Joe again. Nile ducks into her room, she hides the note in between her bras, that should keep them from being found by Joe or Nicky. Nile sits on her bed waiting for the desire to punch Andy to fade. She breathes through some visualizations, she doubts she could land so many hits in real life. Then once her anger has passed, she takes out her dumb phone, texting Andy’s phone:  
Text or phone Muller, when you get this, please.  
That is the most important thing, but:  
confirm you are going to your ex charlie  
Then because how dare Andy do this to them,  
I don’t want your Rodin.

Nile picks up her pillow and screams into it, because it’s that or cry and she can’t do that, she has to look after the guys. To that end, they need to eat, Nicky had left the fish marinating in the fridge, fish is not that hard to cook, she can boil pasta and manage some veg. The guys are on the sofa, a tangles of limbs, soft voice sounds between them. Nile checks the fridge, the fish is still there, but only three pieces, some of the cooked rice is gone from that container, so is the salami and one of the cheeses. The rye bread has gone as well, so Andy took food with her. Nicky comes into the kitchen as Nile is getting pots and pans out of the cupboard.  
“What are you doing, Nile?”  
“Cooking dinner.”  
“If you are hungry, you should have said. Sit down, I'll do it.” Nicky’s tone leaves no room for argument, Nile sits at the counter.  
“Andy took some stuff with her.” Nile tells him before she gets blamed for the missing stuff. Nicky nods, looks over the kitchen, leaves, comes back with Joe, who next pushes to sit next to Nile. Then Nicky starts peeling potatoes with a peeler, great long strips of skin piling up on the counter. Nicky seems to know without looking when either of them get up to help waving them back into their seats. Potato’s cooking, Nicky starts chopping mushrooms and garlic, storing it in a bowl, then a vast mound of spinach, again put a side, lastly onion. A pan goes on for the onion, another for the mushrooms, both have criminal amounts of butter. The fish goes in with the onion, spinach with the mushrooms. In no time at all, Nicky is serving them dinner at the counter, Nicky tucked up to Joe as close as he can be without sitting on him. Nile feels a leg brush hers a couple of times, before she captures it between her legs and Nicky shoulder loose some stiffness, Joe flashes her a smile. Nile tells Nicky how good the food is and what a great cook he is, stroking the back of his neck, Nicky looks to Joe who nods and smiles at him. They all go back to eating, Nicky not exactly happy but less likely to start crying and he is eating, so Nile is going to count this as a win.

Nile does the washing up as the guys watch, Nicky sitting on Joe, who does not complain even though it must be uncomfortable, the dinner room chairs are more comfortable. Nile drags them all to the sitting room and onto the sofa. Nicky on Joe’s lap his legs on Nile, Nile extends her hand again, so he can play with her finger if he wants. Nicky does hold her hand close but the ring game does not start up again. Nile find something to watch on TV, not that Nicky is watching and most of Joe’s attention is on Nicky, muttering words into his hair or giving small kisses, that have nothing to do with sex but everything to do with love.

After the movie, Nile could not tell you what it was and she just watched it, and the news, Joe paid attention to the sport, typical man. Nile decides she needs a real shower before sleep or at least laying in bed trying to sleep. Nile gets up, taking the washing off the dining room table, Nicky tracking her movements but Joe not letting him up. She makes the guys bed first, dumping their clothes on the dresser, she leaves Andy’s stuff on her bed after she makes it and then puts hers away. She takes a set of clothes to sleep-in, her pillow and duvet into the guys room, grabs towels, her toothbrush and some other bits from the bathroom, to go in the en-suite. Nile walks past the guys again, Nicky still watching her, she checks the door and shoves the chair under the door handle, makes it clear she is checking the kitchen window and brings a chair out with her. She leaves it by the door to the guys room. She checks the sitting room window and turns off the tv. Nile pulls Nicky off the sofa, Joe coming up after him and guides him into the bedroom. Nile wedges the chair under the door handle, it is not a good fit, but it is the symbolism that counts. Nile turns to the guys, they are both standing there watching her. “I’m going to take a shower, I will leave the door slightly open and you can not watch, then you two will have a shower each.”  
Joe asks “Can I watch Nicky shower?”  
Nile is not sure if that is meant to be a joke or not. “I will not go to sleep until you are both in bed, so what you need to do.” Nile points to the two pillows pushed to the corner of the bed ”You two sleep there, I am sleeping here,” Nile points to the pillow at the feet end of the bed. “so it you want sex, do it in the bathroom and you had better not kick in your sleep.”  
Joe gives Nicky a hopeful look but Nicky shakes his head. Nile leaves the door open a quarter as she strips and showers, opening it up fully once she is dry and changed. Nicky comes and sit on the toilet lid as she brushes her teeth, watching her as she puts moisturizer on. Nile says nothing about the mascara on the shelf under the mirror. Nile turns to Nicky once she has finished, he takes her hand and kisses her fingers. Joe joins them, flashing Nile a smile of gratitude, before urging Nicky to get undressed. Nile leaves them to it, they don’t bother to close the door, so she gets a flash of flesh every time she looks that way. Neither of them has anything to be ashamed of, Nicky’s thigh muscles are far more defined than his stomach ones. Nile does not watch as they come into the bedroom naked a to put boxers and t-shirts on. Nile waits until they are both on the bed, Joe with most of the duvet between him and the wall, Nicky pressed into his chest, their blue blanket covering both of them. Nile slips under her duvet and waits, five breaths later she feels Nicky’s hand slip around her ankle, it's a strange feeling but she is going to try and get some sleep with Nicky touching her, she knows he needs it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know that is not quite how evolution works, but it also is a bit with Human help to speed things up.  
> The confusion around animal names is brought to you by my mum, who after forty years still does not the English for sparrow, learnt hedgehog from us and used the zoo point and say method of identification.  
> Look up Rheas and Cassowary and tell me they are not living breathing dinosaurs.


	11. Day Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nile, Joe and Nicky spend the day together.  
> After getting up far to early Copley calms everyone' fears.  
> They go to the zoo.  
> lot's of stories are told.  
> Nicky does not have a bad day.  
> Nile has a good day.  
> Joe is happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me.  
> There are lots of little stories in this chapter.  
> I don't think there are any triggers, but Joe and Nicky have been around a long time and some animals they known of are not with us any more.

Day Eleven

They are waiting at the red metro station just behind the Real gardens, where Nile and Joe got the metro to the last conference with Cobley, for the first train to the airport at 0511. Sleep, even with all of them in the same bed, had been hard to come by and when it did come fitful, each of them waking an other up with each shift or movement. Then Nile’s dream had been full of visions of Quynh, they had given up on sleep altogether. Fortified by Nicky's hot chocolate, the three of them had set out into the pre-dawn city.   
Nicky is sandwiched between Joe and Nile on the bench, he seems calm to Nile, flashing Nile a half smile as Joe naps on his shoulder. Nile is beginning to think they will get through today without a panic attack, the odd tension of the last few days has not gone but it is less.  
“Nile,” Nicky breaks the silence “is being angrier at Andy for taking off with telling us beforehand, then worried about if she is well, a good or a bad thing.” Nicky's voice, as soft spoken as he is, is loud in the early morning quiet.  
“Booker level angry?”  
“No, nothing like that, just, people that do not clean weapons after use angry.”  
“Can’t find Joe level of worry?”  
Nicky checks Joe is against his side, Joe snuffles and shifts at the movement. “I am worried, but it is not filling me up. The lump is solid but manageable inside me.”  
“Then it is good. You are not being overwhelmed but you’re not numb either.”  
Nicky takes Nile's hand, bringing it to his mouth for a kiss, before holding it in both of his. “You have been a great help, thank you.” Nile flashes him a smile, but before she can speak he continues, “When Andy returns, and she will return, I have faith in her and her skills. I am not worried about her undertaking this mission by herself any more than I was worried about her going to get you. I find my concern is about her getting injured or pulling stitches or becoming involved in a car crash.” Nicky pauses “When she returns can you take Joe away to the park for an hour or so? Andy and I need to have another talk about what is acceptable behavior, My Boss or not, she needs to talk to us. Things with Booker would not have gotten so out of hand if there had been more talking between us. I am not questioning her choices, thinking on things last night, her plan, if she has gone to Goussainville, is sound and as a course of action, the right one, I just think she should have informed us before she left.”  
“You don’t want to upset him.”  
“I don’t want it to be him and Andy arguing because it is Andy and I are arguing.”  
“Not us against her.”  
“Would it be us?” Nicky looks at Nile, asking far more than this one question.  
“I think she needs to talk to us before she pulls this shit, but I am new, so I don’t know if my vote counts. If You and Andy get into it, she knows Joe is going to side with you. One on One might be less confrontational.” Nile does not want to divide the group any more than she feels she already has. One day it will be just the three of them, then them and Booker, Nile already knows it needs to be a quartet not a trio plus one for this to work.  
“Booker, when he said Joe and I have always had each other, he did not mean just as a couple, in the end I will defend Joe and he, me. The two of us over everyone and everything else, supporting and caring for the other, even at the cost of everyone and everything else, without question. I have always seen that as the bedrock for the rest of the group, a solid core to fix everyone else too. Andy and Quyhn strong pillars that we supported and lent strength to, a solid, warm, safe base for Booker to rebuild his life on. I guess it looks different from the outside, that we are insular and isolating.”   
“The day in Trier, when I cried, you got up to cook dinner and traded kisses with Joe before you went to cook. I decided then I would fight for you two, so you could be together, your love was worth protecting. You are the trellis I am growing my new life around like a climbing rose. You and Joe are the solid support that let me be the best version of me.”   
Nicky flushes, then with a half smile tells her, “When you say things like that, I can see why Andy claims you are mine and Joe's child.”  
Nile’s laugh has the other three people looking on the platform looking at them. They sit in silence as the billboard counts down to one minute until the train arrives, when they stand and stretch, pulling Joe up as he slowly wakes-up again.

Once they are on the train, the only people in this end of the carriage, sat together on the bench seat, Nicky in the middle again, Nile squashed against the metal divider from the door. Nile picks the conversion up again “You two have always had each other's backs, from like day one.”  
“Yusuf has had mine since we rode off the battlefield together.” Nicky confirms.  
“They just let you ride off into the sunset together?”  
Joe sighs, picking up the tale, when Nicky fails to speak. “We had met I battle again, my side was harassing Frankish troops as they moved about the region after they had taken Jerusalem, consolidating power, this was two months after,”  
“Nearly three.” Nicky's voice is so quiet, Nile almost misses it and his head is on her shoulder.   
“We kept coming across each other in battle, not seeking out the other but finding him all the same, sometimes we killed each other, sometimes one walked away. Sometime more than once per battle. This time we died by a hail of arrows, I still do not know which side fired them but one of us died from friendly-fire. I was seen to waken and was taken by my own side to my general - I guess you would call him now. He listened to the tale the men told, saw the cut he made on my arm heal and thanked me for my service, said he understood why I had made a pact with a jinn but I should go now, Allah, did not want me serving with them.“ Joe sucubs his face with his hands running them through his hair. “I told him I would only go if he gave me three horses, two to ride and one with bedrolls and provisions for two for ten days on it. He asked why, I said that as my final helping act to them, I would take the Frank that could not die with me. Then things would remain even, if not, I left him to imagine what would happen. As the horses were readied I went back out to find Nicky. He was tied to the trunk of a tree, his own side firing arrows at him. I killed the archers and the priest. Looted the bodies, cut Nicky down, tied him up, pulled the arrows out, collected his sword and took him with me. He awoke just as I put him on the horse.” Joe smiles at Nicky, “We did ride off together, but he was tied up, laying across the saddle, and it was afternoon.”  
“Why take him with you?”  
“We were meant to be together.” Nicky tells her, Joe nods.  
“How long did you keep him tied up?”  
“A month or so.” Nicky says looking at Joe, Joe nods “The first two times he untied me I killed him, the third I killed myself. He waited three weeks to untie me again.”  
“Nicky!” Nile reaches for his hand.  
“Nicky was” Joe searches for a word, “unwell. Not that I understood, I thought he was very annoying. The first words he spoke to me was to call my mother a whore when I took him into the river to bathe, this was ten days in. So, I drowned him. He was much easier to wash dead. Which I mistakenly told him, so he never again fought hard enough against bathing that I would have to kill him.”  
“To be fair to Joe, he had worked out that I understood his Greek and Latin, I just was not speaking, had not been for some time before.”  
“Did not for some time after, my all. You were basically silent until the of that first winter we spent in that cave above the Black sea.” Nicky leans against Joe, who kisses his forehead.  
“You looked after me, My love.”  
“You gave me purpose, after all if I did not care for you, you would not care for yourself.”  
Nicky kisses Joe for real, resting their foreheads together, they breathe each other's air for a time before Nicky sits back. Nile rests her head on Nicky’s shoulder and closes her eyes, she has got some time before the train stops at the airport.

The train fills up as they pass the center of Valencia, tourists and workers alike sleepy shifting in place, quiet conversations and the one excited toddler in their carriage, taking away. When the train stops they wait for the rush to the door to end, Nicky offering help to a woman with two cases and three under tens, on the platform, Joe’s take a pushchair up the escalator a little ahead of Nile. Looking around, Nile sees an older woman struggling with her case to get off the train, Nile offers her assistance, escorting the woman all the way to the check in area. As Nile passes two police men who do not give her a second glance Nile reliziese that this is not just the guys being helpful, it’s hiding in plain sight, three people with no luggage is very different from two different family men and a good granddaughter. She feels eyes on her and spots Nicky and Joe lounging by a wall. They walk the concourse slowly looking around, finding a mezzanine floor with tables that has plugs for laptop or the phone, more importantly the WiFi works and there is a coffee shop. Nile gets three coffees and sandwiches as Nicky set the phone up to make the call.

“What do we say?” Nicky asks as Nile sits down, “He is not expecting our call.”  
“We tell him something has come up, we need to go to Goussenville and what can we expect there in terms of surveillance and resistance.” Nile looks at Joe, “but nicely?”  
“You want me to do the talking?” Joe sounds outraged.  
“You are human contacts and negotiations, Nicky does the shopping, Booker did background on computers, but you're the people person.” Nile tells him.  
Nciky hides this little smile as Joe huffs out his breath. “I will talk on the phone. If I must.” Joe says with a grumpy tone.  
“Joe still dislikes the phone as a way to communicate.”  
“You can not see people, judge their actions, see their tells, with only the voice you lose far too much of the conversation.” Joe busies himself swapping half his sandwich for Nicky’s.  
“Video chat.” Nile points out.  
“It is what I have set up, pointed toward the windows he should not get any useful information on our location.” Nicky tells her, taking a bite of his sandwich, “breakfast first.”  
They eat their food, Joe casting looks at Nicky, Nile does too, but he seems calm, his surveillance of the area is subtle and not more frequent than hers or Joe’s, he is not reaching for physical contact with either of them. Nile’s dump phone makes a beeping sound, both guys look at her as Nile pulls it out of her pocket. There is a new text:  
Tell him the fish is good.  
“It’s from Andy, she says the fish is good.” Nile is not sure what is on her face when she looks up. Joe falls back in his chair, running his hand through his hair, Nicky shakes his head. “She was supposed to text you, Nicky.” Nicky sheepishly checks his phone, there is no text on it, nor is there one on Joe’s. Nile just shakes her head, it’s clear if someone -Booker - has not sat down and gone set by step though something IT related with them they don’t have a clue. Nile Texts back:  
Yes it was, where are you  
She gets;  
Safe  
Texted back almost immediately, Nile put the phone back in her pocket, she won’t get any more out of Andy over text than she would in real life. Instead she looks at Nicky, “Still up for contacting Copley” Then seeing Nicky's eyebrows come together “Do you still wish to contact Copley?”  
Nicky nods, he props the phone up against the coffee cups, hitting the connect button on the phone, it ‘rings’ and ‘rings’, Joe moving to place his chair in between Nile and Nicky, just the plain glass windows behind him. Nile thinks how early it is here, not even half six and the UK is an hour behind so Copley should be sleeping and maybe they should try later, she is just about to voice this, when sleep looking Copley comes on the screen.  
“Sorry Copley, forgot the time difference with all the traveling we have done.” Joe says smoothly. “I apologize for waking you. We can call back at a later hour.”  
“It is alright Mr eh Joe, I am awake now and the curiosity would keep me from sleeping. How can I help you.” Copley is sitting up straighter looking far more alert and if Nile is honest, a little worried.  
“As you know we left Goussenville in something of a hurry,” Nile sees Copley wince, “we find we need to go back for some equipment that is hard to replace.”  
“Your swords?” Copley asks, they would not be in this position if he was stupid.  
“Among other things, how much surveillance is there on the site?”  
“Nothing, we removed our dead, but no one wanted to be connected to a massacre, we didn’t even set fire to the place in case it brought investigation. No one is watching.”  
“You are sure.” Joe asks.  
“Yes. I have had on flags on the local police, french intelligence, Interpol or any special interest groups. Nothing more than some kids partying last night in one of the other buildings.”  
Nicky leans back in his seat, Joe glances at him, Nicky nods and flashes a smile. Joe turns back to Copley. “Thank you that puts our minds at rest and means less work for you to cover up.” Joe settles back into his chair. “How was Nile’s funeral?”  
“Good, as these things can be, the weather held off until after the service. Mrs Freeman seems to have a lot of support, everyone spoke highly of Miss Freeman.” Joe squeezes Nile’s hand under the table. “I can give Miss Freeman updates on her mother and brother if she wishes.”  
“Thank you.” Joe squeezes Nile’s hand again as the tears start to form, “We get back to you as to whether it is necessary or not.”  
“If that was all” Copley prompts as they all go silent.  
“No wait.” Nile angles herself in front of Joe. “Can you find a therapist who speaks French?”  
“I do not understand, Miss Freeman.”  
“Booker, he is going to need counselling, but he is going to need to talk about the whole immortal thing, so we need someone who won't talk about that.”   
Copley looks a little panicked at Nile's suggestion.  
“I mean not now, in a couple of years when he might be more open to help.”  
“I will see what can be done when he is no longer spending all his time and energy getting drunk.”  
“Thanks Copley, I know it’s a big ask, but I wanted to give you a heads up for the future.”  
“Thank you, Miss Freeman.” Copley says it in that British way that means there is no thanks at all. “Is there anything else.”  
“No, I’m good.” Nile tells him, both indicate they have nothing else. “The other’s are good too. Bye Copley.” Nile gives him a little wave.  
“Goodbye Miss Freeman, gentleman.” Copley responds and then turns off his connection.  
Nicky turns the phone off and removes the sim card, dropping it into the dregs of his coffee.  
“You do not think you can help Booker the way you are helping me?” Nicky does not look at Nile.  
“No, I don’t. I am not with Booker and maybe he should not be with us until,” Nile lets out a sigh, “It’s not that I don’t want to help him, it's just that he needs more help that I can give, I am not a professional. Nicky, you know where you are and where you want to be, I am just helping you get there.” Nile cups the air to one side of her and then the other, drawing a path between the two places, to help Nicky with her modern English. “Booker, he has never seen the map, it’s all here be dragons for him.” Nile circles her hands in front of her. “Do you get the difference?”  
Joe is smiling and nodding even if Nicky is not.  
“Does everyone want another cup of coffee to go?” Nile asks, collecting the empties to be binned, as she shoots Joe a you got this look.  
“Yes, thank you.” Joe turns to talk to Nicky.  
When Nile returns Nicky can at least look at her, when he takes his coffee. Joe is still making his point in Italian, until Nicky agrees and they stand to leave. On the stairs Nile is left holding all three cups again as Nicky and Joe carry a double pushchair down the steps for a young Mum. Nile takes the escalator, so she does not spill anything.

They are back on the train just after seven, fifteen minute later Joe indicates they should get off at a station called Nou d’Octubre, Nicky directs them toward the nearest open cafe. The zoo he explains does not open until ten. They have a second meal of pastries and hot chocolate all round, the three of them sat at a table meant for two, the atmosphere far more relaxed in some ways than the meal at the airport.   
“Are you still disappointed with me Nicky.” Nile asks the second time he fails to look at her.   
“No, I understand your intentions, it is perhaps best someone else directs Booker to the path. We have failed to do so.”   
“Nicky.” Joe warns, Nicky shoots him a glance, Joe mimes being stabbed in the chest.  
“I have an perhaps outdated negative opinion on Psychiatry professionals.” Nicky grits out.  
“Is there a story?”  
Nicky hides his head. Joe rubs his shoulders, smiling. “It’s a great story.”  
“It’s not.”  
“Nicky was magnificent.” Joe is full of pride.  
“You were not there and Booker tells it better.”  
“Nicky did you start a bar fight with some psychiatrist?”  
“It was a coffee house.” Nicky mumbles into his hands.  
Nile pulls Nicky hands away from his face, gives him a smile, rubbing his fingers. “Tell me about the time you started a fight in a coffee house.”  
“I do not wish to.”  
Joe pulls Nile’s hands away from Nicky’s, Nicky covers his face again, Joe hugs Nicky close with one arm.  
“Nile, Nicky likes to get into debates, it is very entertaining to watch him discuss things.”  
“Like with Malcolm X.”  
“Yes, or Voltre or priests or Professors or other students. In the past such things were common in places like Coffee houses, before that cloisters, collage quads and even plazas, wherever educated men could meet.. Booker and Andy used to go with him and watch, it was good entertainment.” Joe gives Nicky a shake as he uncovers his face. “So, we are in Vienna in 1903, 04, Nicky is catching up on scientific inventions made while we were fighting in the Anglo-Boer war. These students in the coffee house were studying psychoanalysis and at this point, Booker claims Nicky is happily talking away, he goes to get another glass of wine and as Booker is returning to the table, Nicky breaks the man next to him nose, turns to attack the guy on the other side. Booker downs his wine and joins in.”  
“Did you win?” Nile interrupts before Joe gives her a blow by blow description of a fight he did not see.  
“We got arrested, Booker and I. They had to put us in separate cells from the students.” Nicky is no longer hiding his face, “I thought I could beat the bad idea’s out of them.”  
“You can beat the stupid out of people Nicky.” Nile tells him.  
“I know, it is just what they were saying, It was so very wrong and then that science backed up their ideas.”  
Nile thinks about what she know about science from then, “Homophobic and racist ideas.”   
“And Islamophobic.” Nicky confirms Nile guess. “The man next to me used an argument I last heard outside Jerusalem in my first life.” Both Joe and Nile wince at that.   
“I can see why that set you off.” Nile tells him. “but that was over a hundred years ago, things have changed.”  
“I have looked at psychiatry over the years, not much has changed. Homosexuality classified as a mental illness, lobotomies, ECT, much of it sounds worse than the problems it is meant to cure.”  
Nile has to agree that is all bad stuff and all true, “You look at anything this century?”  
“No last time I did my nursing I did not take the psychiatry module.”  
“That was the 1990’s”  
“Yes.”  
“Can you give me an hour, whenever you are ready to look at some information on the internet from like.” Nile thinks about medical organisations. “The Red Cross or Doctors without borders or WHO.”  
“Not today.” Nicky clarifies.  
“It does not even have to be this year, Nicky, when you are ready.” Nile takes his hand.  
Nicky removes his hand until it is just their pinky fingers joined. “Pinky swear.”  
“Did Joe have to come and bail you out of jail in Vienna?”  
Joe laughs, “Andy did it.”  
“She was ten minutes into shouting at Booker for starting a fight in a coffee house of all places before I could tell her it was I who started the fight.” Nicky adds with a smile, clasping Nile’s hand properly again.  
“What did Andy say to that.”  
“She told me not to do it again, then asked if I was okay or needed to go to church. I told her I just needed to see Joe. Booker was angry I got let off. Andy had words with him about that.”  
“Joe wanted you to tell me all this.” Nile is looking more at Joe than Nicky.  
“Yes, so you would understand.” Nicky tells her, as Joe nods and it does explain the big gap in the group's knowledge. If this is Nicky's area of expertise, medicine and science, if he is not interested the rest of them will just ignore the subject.  
Nile finished her pastry before changing the subject. “What animals do you want to see in the Zoo?”  
Joe shrugs, “Whatever they have got, I still believe that there are many wonders in the world that I have not seen.”  
“God’s beauty is in all things.” Nicky adds, a fond look directed at Joe.  
“Even crocodiles?” Nile teases.  
“Yes, imperfections are there to show us the true glory of everything else.” Nicky continues with only a small frown, “With no suffering there is no joy. Everything is for a reason.” Joe gives Nicky such a fond look the Nile thinks her teeth hurt with the sweetness of it all.

Once they have made the hot chocolate last as long as they can, the head off into Cabecera park walking around the lake Nicky finds a bench to sit on overlooking the water. He seems happy to rest his head on Joe’s shoulder and close his eyes. Nile can’t say for sure if he is napping. A thought pops into Nile's head and she dismisses it, but she must give something away as Joe makes an inquiring noise.  
“It’s nothing.”  
“Ask, it will pass the time if nothing else.” Joe tells her, his voice is low and smooth so as not to wake Nicky. “I do like to tell a good story and we are going to tell you so many today. Some might even be true.”  
Nile smiles at the joke, she hopes the stories have all been true so far, “Have you ever done the Haj?”  
“Three times as a pilgrim, fifteen times as a guard for pilgrims, mostly from Cairo, it was good money and easy traveling, for the time.”  
“With Nicky and the others?”  
“Eleven of the guard trips and as a pilgrim with Nicky, before we met the others. Once in my first life as a pilgrim. Once as a guard with Andy and Quynh. Three times as a guard after we met the others but without them. I went as a pilgrim the last time after we stopped looking for Quynh.” Joe has tears in his eyes, “I will go again once Andy passes.”  
“Did it help?”  
“We made a good living as guards.”  
“Not what I meant.”  
“Each time I went it was for a different reason, the first time duty, I was going to Damascus and it was sort of on the way. The second because, well Nicky and I had taken jobs as guard down from Aleppo to Mecca, but I did not feel right about being paid to be a guard and also taking the Haj when I got to Mecca, plus I had partaken in the recent past. But the group we were with got upset with both Nicky and I for not partaking even when I explained why and we left the group, spent a year in Mecca doing little jobs.” The way Joe waves his hands as he speaks, makes Nile think it was not quite that simple. “In our early years Nicky thought about converting a few times, the time in Mecca was the first, I felt the need to go again, for my new life, all the talk of faith with Nicky. Because we were finally together he and I, I went to give thanks for all that I had been given. When I got back to our room, he had found us work guarding pilgrims back to Cairo, they had been hit hard by bandits and needed some new men. We spent the next ten years going back and forth from Cairo to Mecca once a year, with the same group of guards. Many years later, Nicky and I talked about that Haj, we both had been surprised I awoke after my first death after it, breaking up a brawl in Cairo, but also selfishly happy I had.” Nile has to smile at the romance of it, both of them having the same feelings. “The third time, Nicky and I believe everything happens for a reason, but Quynh’s loss, I have still not found a reason for beyond we should be more careful, I was grieving and wanted absolution.” Joe sighs, “Even by that point it was becoming harder for Nicky to come with me, he is of the wrong faith and his motives are questioned at every turn. Nicky took the questioning calmly as he does, but I did not feel it was safe for him to go back. We are not spies but once the accusation is made, you end up in jail, executed and then things get complicated.” Joe kisses Nicky’s head. Nile understands Joe’s fear coming so soon after Quynh loss then and Booker betrayal now, she can not imagine one without the other.  
They watch the ducks in the lake, Nile dozing on Joe’s other shoulder until Nicky stirs, standing and stretching encourages Joe and Nile up off the bench. They walk slowly toward the zoo, arriving at the entrance to the zoo a little before ten, Nile uses the time to study the statue of the elephant that is outside. When Joe calls her as the ticket booths open, Nile refuses to feel like a child called by her parents, no matter how strong the thought is in her head.   
After the entrance they cross the footbridge over the Cabecera park, Nile takes some time to enjoy the view and let Nicky cast his eye over the bridge itself. Joe smiling at both of them, his fingers twitching like he is sketching. Nile releases Joe did not bring a notebook with him, they have not really brought anything with them today, Nile darts back across the bridge, to the gift shop. The guys are waiting for her at the start of the bridge when she returns, an over priced tote bag on her shoulder, containing an over priced Notebook, the least silly pencil she could find, three bottles of water and a bag of sweets. She gets a neck squeeze from Joe and a shoulder pat from Nicky when she shows them.  
After a quick stop in the toilets, the other side of the bridge, they head on the path to the right, it’s less busy. There is a lake with pelicans and flamingos, Nile wonders aloud if these flamingos know about the one in the wetlands and vic-via. Joe makes up a story about a pair of flamingos, one from each group, sneaking in and out of the zoo to be together.   
The first zone, though a set of doors is Madagascar, a place Joe and Nicky have been to a few times. Joe jokes that Nicky was the first white man on the island. Nicky agrees that he was among the first, as they went there from the Swahili coast, in the 1150’s, spending ten years on the island, before they made their way to Baghdad. Just as Nile is getting her head around that, she releases there is no cage or rather they are in the cage, the black and white lemurs, they are right there on the grass in front of her, up in the trees around her, she could touch one. Joe and Nicky look happy, Joe makes pshpsh sounds until Nicky tells him to stop. There is a zoo keeper watching Joe, with a frown on her face, like she knows Joe is trouble. Joe smiles at the keeper, telling her in his best Spanish, “When we lived on Madagascar we had lemurs that would come and share our fruit for breakfast, I swear to you there was one that used to join me for prayers.” Nicky has a half smile on his face, he nods in response to Nile's questioning look. Joe has moved on to saying what a nice enclosure it is, reminding him of the island. Nicky loops this arm though Nile gently moving her on, with an assurance they will come back later in the day. They cross a small bridge into an area with lots of trees, there is another keeper is standing watching the visitors, at his feet, on the path is a brown lemur, eating a piece of fruit, with no care for the people passing by. As they round the corner there are some yellow-y red lemurs in a group up a tree, the little baby keeps trying to walk off and the mother keeps pulling it back. As they cross between two groups of trees at the same time a group of red lemurs cross over the path to eat the fruit in a tree, if Nile raises her hand she could touch one, she thinks one may have brushed Joe’s hat. Another keeper is watching them so Nile does not raise her hand.  
At the end of the Madagascan area is a room that has models of Elephant birds and a giant Koala lemurs, Nile thinks the lemur looks really creepy, in the darkness of the room. When Nile reads the signs she realizes both these creatures may have been still around when Joe and Nicky were on Madagascar. She turns to ask the guys if they ever saw these animals and see a lot of frantic whispering between Joe and Nicky. Joe catches Nile watching and they head outside. They sit on an empty bench, families moving past them. Joe and Nicky looking at each other.  
“Did you see those animals when you lived there?” Nile asks, getting a little worried.  
Joe starts after a look at Nicky. “The Elephant birds are called something like Vorompatra in the story’s I know from the island. I used to sell the eggshell we found to traders. The Vorompatra always live farther to the south of the island or more inland, someone's brother or cousin had seen one a few years back. Everyone had a story. We never saw one. Everyone had a story about Tatratratra, people like creatures that live in the trees. They were like ghost stories, told at night, but there was no proof such a thing ever was, unlike the eggshells of the Voropatra, so I did not believe in them not even when Nicky claimed he saw one.”  
“I did see one.” Nicky tells him.  
“I believe you, but at the time you came home all panicky, with a ghost story.”  
“You thought he was having a bad day?” Nile asks.  
Joe gives a head wobble. “We quarreled as I did not believe him, I wanted to leave to calm down, he would not let me. Nicky told me he would kill me to keep me in our home, but he would not let me leave. It was the closest we had come to blows in years.”  
“Shit.” Nile breaths out.  
“I was very scared to see this creature in the trees not far from our home. I had nightmares for many years.” Nicky has Joe’s hand wedged in between their body’s.  
“Yeah, it was creepy.” Nile nudges Nicky’s shoulder with a smile, he smiles back.  
“You know you are the first and last white person to see one, Nicky.”  
Nicky hums, as Joe cocks his head thinking, “She is right my all.”  
“It is a strange claim to fame, not that I can ever tell anyone.” Nicky says after some thought, something catches his eye and he moves to the glass. “Yusuf, is that a tree cat?”  
“Where?”  
“In the tree, there.” Nicky points as Joe comes up behind him. “Look a second one.”  
“Do you remember Faeles?” Joe asks.  
“He always stole your fish. Nile come see”  
“The sign says they are Fossa, Madagascar's largest predator.” Nile tells them as she walks up to the glass. “I guess it looks a bit like a cat.”  
“Faeles used to steal one of Joe’s fish out of the boat every time Joe came back. Not that Joe ever chased him away.” Nicky is smiling again, watching the Fossas.  
“You sent me to put fish in the boat, if the weather had been too bad for me to go out to sea for too many days.” Joe's voice is teasing.  
“You had a pet Fossa.” Nile shakes her head.  
“It was not a pet, we never petted it. Never let it in the house.” Nicky is emphatic in his denial.  
“You named him.” Nile points out.  
“It means cat and sometimes thief in Latin. So not really a name.” Joe points out.  
“Oh my god, you had lame Dad jokes back in the twelfth century.” Nile lets out. Nicky and Joe both smile. A kid comes to the glass between Nicky and Nile, Nicky taking the time to point the animal out to the child before he backs away. Joe and Nile follow.  
“Do you want to go back?” Nile asks Nicky.  
“I said we would but let us look at the rest.” Nicky tells her.  
“No to Madagascar?”  
“The last time we went even the water felt different, it is not our island, not any more. It’s changed far too much. Even Malta is changing around us.” Joe speaks up  
“We will have to go back soon my love, it’s been too long.” Nicky agrees, even Joe’s lewd glance in reply is soft. Nicky loops his arm with Nile’s again steering her away from the path leading to the Crocodiles. They spend some time looking for the snakes and insects in some tanks, even with the pictures and Nicky’s sniper eyes they still can’t find one of the animals.  
“I think it has escaped and is no longer in there.” Joe claims, “If it even was in the first place, like that show with the animal that could only be seen by the pure of heart.”  
“He made a lot of coin with that scam.” Nicky agrees, half a smile on his face. “very impressively done, no-one would speak against him as everyone wants to be seen as pure of heart.”  
“You’re a conspiracy nut, Joe.” Nile tells Joe as he follows behind her and Nicky.  
“It is not a conspiracy if it is true.”  
“My love, please do not put your hand into the tank of a scorpion just to prove a point.”  
“You can use UV light to find scorpions so I’m sure the zoo knows where it is.” Nile tells him, slowing down, “What in the water?” Nile tightens her grip on Nicky’s arm just in case, as Joe dances ahead.  
“Look, Nile a baby water horse.” Joe cries. “They are cute when they are small.”  
“The sign says Pygmy Hippopotamus, So I think it is full grown.” Nile claims as she and Nicky join him. Nile looks at all the animals Joe points out, reading the sign to get English names of the deer and the baboon like animals, they are called Drill which Nile thinks is amusing.  
Nicky and Joe have a very fast bout of Italian after Nicky looks at the signs, Nicky going so far as to point to the map of distribution for the pygmy hippos.  
“An issue guys?”  
“No, just, we saw what must of been Pygmy Hippopotami” Nicky nails the Latin plural of the name, “when we live in Madagascar, but these are from D’Cote Ivory, we did not see them when we there or in Sierra Leone.”  
Nile shugs, “Different species?”  
“Maybe, Nile, these ones seem less grumpy and civil wars are not good for wildlife spotting, unless it’s carrion eaters.” Nicky flashes a smile, before he reaches for Nile and sets off again. They pass two types of deer and cranes on one side, Buffalo and some kind of wild pig on the other. Joe and Nicky take the time to stop, let Nile read the signs, Nicky does too but after he has found all the animals. Joe has more in common with the children, Nile has to resist the urge to pull him back from the edge more than once, but he is not shouting so that is a one up on the children.  
The next enclosure is just that it has a roof over it and wire as well as glass panels, the sign is for Leopards, when Nile joins Nicky by the glass he points one three Leopards, two yellow and spotty, one black with the spots visible in a different shade of black, camouflaged in the shadow, given away by a swoosh of the tail.  
“They have them well caged in there.” Nile points the roof of the enclosure,  
“Leopards can not be trusted, they are crafty creatures.” Joe stands behind her, resting his arms on her shoulders, “they will try to escape and kill people, even if they are full of food.”  
“Cunning and free spirited.” Nicky voice has a note of pride.  
“Sly and bloody-minded.” Joe opinions, Nicky rocks his hand in a maybe motion. One of the leopards leaps up to the wire roof narrowly missing the sparrow that had been sat on the wire. Nile is glad of the roof, these are not tame animals.

The next set of enclosure has chimpanzee and then gorillas, Joe and Nicky say toward the back as Nile has a look.  
“No stories?” Nile asks as they walk away.  
“We have encountered them in the wild.” Joe tells her with a sad smile.  
“They seem almost Human.” Nile continues.  
“Yes,” Nicky agrees, “it can be disconcerting to see something like us but not. Our encounters were a long time ago, we were more concerned with other things.”  
“Look Nicky, Little moneys.” Joe calls from where he has walked ahead. Nicky gives a half smile and loops his arm though Nile’s arm to lead her to Joe.

Joe points at the otter, “A furry fish for you Nicky, good job it is not Friday.”  
Nicky gives him a shove, Joe shoves back a bit, they stop before Nile has to go and intervene.

There is a sign about the most dangerous animal in all of Africa and when the group gets to these ‘caves’ all Nile can see is massive glass panels with water behind, there is a lot of fish but that can’t be it. Joe takes the tote bag from Nile as she tries to work out what she is meant to find, she looks for a sign and sees Joe and Nicky sat on the layered seating. Joe is already sketching, Nicky salutes her with his bottle of water, that means he already spotted the animal, she wonders if the two of them think this is some kind of a joke. Nile goes to look by the big rock in the other window, when the rock moves and a full sized Hippopotamus swims past the glass. Another one moves toward the glass from the back of the pool. They swim well for something that huge and Nile has never seen them from this angle before, normally you see hippo’s from above as you look into the water. Nicky half smile greets her as she sits down, he gestures to the sign Nile had walked passed. When Nile returns she asks “Are they really that dangerous?”  
“We” Nicky indicates him and Joe “Have been capsized ten times now, by them, four and six drownings a piece.”  
“Tell her about the wood.” Joe does not look up.  
“Once in the chaos, as the boat just disintegrated under us, I got stabbed in the chest by a piece of wood from the hull of the boat, I still do not know how it happened, I think I may have impaled myself as I went in the water. I did not drown that time.” Nicky waves to a piece of his chest, his hand marking out nearly a quarter of his right side. “The ferry was the worst incident, not the stabbing one, a boat like the one in the wetlands, packed full, the water was churning, people screaming in terror, the boat was gone in minutes, people being dragged under by others, fighting to get away. It took a day for us to all meet up again, Booker was just sitting on the shore when we found him. He told me he got why I hated crocodiles, he had seen them take the corpses.”  
“So this was recent?”  
“The late 80’s”  
“Eighteen or nineteen”  
“Nineteen.”  
“Really recent.” Nile sighs, “I was just thinking they swim well for something that big and they are huge.”  
“A well made knife is still a thing of beauty even if it is deadly. Hippopotami are God's reminder that for all humans think they can do as they please, his other works also have the same right. Truthfully most of them stay away from boats, some are just ill-natured and they are bigger, faster and thicker skinned then us.”  
Nile smiles, “Like the joke: Hippos can run at 30km an hour, swim fast then Humans, so your only hope of beating them in a triathlon is cycling.”   
Joe laughs and Nicky cracks a smile, Nile leans against Nicky's legs as he sits on the higher level, watching the hippos swim, as Joe draws.   
Nile offers Nicky one of the sweets, Nicky takes one, hesitantly biting into the sweet.  
“Don’t like it?” Nile asks, popping two into her mouth.  
“They are often very sweet and strongly tasting, it can be a bit much, plus Joe found something called sour sweets. He thinks my reaction is funny.”  
“It is funny.” Joe tells Nile. “Andy’s face was hilarious, Booker can eat them.”  
“What about you?” Nile asks Joe, Joe just points upward as a response. It takes a second for Nile to remember about gelatin. Nicky holds out his hand for another sweet.

Once Joe has finished drawing they leave the way they came in, avoiding the Nile crocodile enclosure. The next enclosure has huge trees which Joe confirms are real trees not constructions like Nile thought, the trees must be a couple of meters on circumference, but when the elephant walks past they are in proportion.  
“Elefant” Says Joe the word old accented, But Nicky flashes him a whole smile, so Nile guesses it’s some inside joke.  
“Do you know about Hannibal and his elephants?” Nicky asks Nile.  
“Going across the Alps?” Nile checks if it is the right Hannibal she learnt about, Nicky nods, “Yeah Iearnt a bit about his campaign.”  
“Get Andy a bottle or two of strong wine and ask her about Hannibal.”  
“Make sure she does not drink the all wine first or she will just end up ranting in Latin about now they should have just done what she said in the first place.”  
“Which side was she on?”  
“Hers” Joe says, at the same time as Nicky says “I think both, just at different times.”  
“I’ll ask Andy.” Nile leaves it at that.  
“Good strong wine.” Nicky reminds her.  
The next viewing area and a little group of elephants drinking from the lake/moat of the enclosure.   
“How easy are they to ride?” Nile asks.  
“It’s comfortable if you are behind the head, the howdahs can be very luxurious but sway, with panniers it’s more comfortable on average and you get less swaying but you have decreased vision and you are dependent on the driver.” Nicky looks apologetic, “You are very high, so that can be an issue. It takes a long time to form a bond between mahout, the rider, and elephant, it is a family job in most places, not for outsiders. We were little more than passengers mostly. There are better ways to travel these days.”  
“It is still better than walking.” Nicky and Nile ignore Joe’s comment.  
“Did you two ever see them used in battle?”  
“Yes, surprise and infra-sound can be very useful, if it is on your side. Height always gives you an advantage. Charging with elephants can be as effective as the cavalry charge. The downside is stampeding elephants don’t care which side they are meant to be on.”  
“Quynh always put being trampled at the top of her worst way to die.” Joe’s face has a complicated set of emotions on it.  
Nicky's face falls with some memory, then his eyes light back up. “It is always a joy to find elephants in the forest, the trails they make are easy to walk. There is something of God’s mysteries in something so big disappearing a few meters from you into the trees. If you could not be sure you had seen them. If a herd of elephants can hide in the trees then what else is out there.”  
“They hide quite well on the Savannah, outside of the dry season.” Joe adds, “The bulls seem to come out of nowhere.” Joe and Nicky get lost in a memory for a time. Nile uses the time to finish her water. She can’t see all the elephants the zoo is meant to have, the enclosure is shaped so the elephants can hide away if they want to. Something so big can just disappear, thinks Nile, like in the wild.

After the elephants are a couple of places to get food, but none of them are hungry enough to eat stuff that does not appeal. In fact the only thing that appeals is the view. Nicky claims it looks like a small piece of the savanna. Joe says something to Nicky that has him turning red and checking there is no one around them. “Joe is very crass and he can explain.”  
“Well Nile, you see.” Joe gets two words in before Nile asks “Is it one of those things that will take half an hour to explain, be really uncomfortable and I still won’t get it.”  
“Ten minutes at most, for you, most likely.” Joe confirms.  
“I don’t want to know, then.”  
“It is perhaps for the best.” Nicky shoots Joe a look, “It was very brazen.”  
“Can we get ice cream?” Nile points at a kid with Ice cream. Nicky nods, both of them glad for the change of subject and they go to find the ice cream stand. Treats in hand, more water in Nile’s tote bag they rejoin the path around the Savannah. 

Joe points to a giraffe, “Remember when we tried to ride one?”   
Nicky just laughs out loud in response, “Tell Nile.”   
Joe smiles, “Some years after we had met Andy and Quynh, we found ourselves back in Northeastern Africa. Quynh and I were telling stories about animals we had seen. Giraffes come up, Quynh has a story of archers riding giraffes into battle against spear-men on elephants.” Joe mimes shooting arrows downward. “One at the front to steer, one at the back to shoot. We do not believe her.” Joe waves his hand between himself and Nicky. “We had seen tame elephants and cheetahs but not giraffes, Quynh says it’s because we had not been far enough west. After two weeks of squabbling about this, Andy says we are going to find a giraffe and ride it. Because Andy had not yet met an animal that could be ridden she could not ride and if giraffes could be ridden she wanted to do it.”  
Nile is shaking her head laughing, Nicky keeps laughing in fits as he remembers a bit of the story.  
“So, a few months later we end up stalking these giraffes, did you know they kick and headbutt? We found that out.” Joe continues.  
Nicky mimes a blow and someone flying a very long way with his hands.  
“Quynh did not take kindly to Nicky rating how far people flew. Even when she won the competition.” Joe shakes his head smiling, “In the end we got one giraffe isolated and then we had to try to get on it. Nicky came up with climbing a tree and dropping on it. That did not work. Then we decided to wait for it to kneel down to sleep and climb on, but it would not get up when we were sitting on it. Andy climbed all sorts of things to try and jump on.”  
“Did you manage to ride it?”  
“Andy barely did, enough so she could claim it was an unrideable creature and Quynh's story was just that.”  
“We got a number of meals out of that tale.” Nicky puts in getting his breathing under control. “Joe would have the whole inn enraptured by his words.”  
“You and Quynh acting bits of the story out, the two of you put on a show. Andy heckling us from the bar” Joe gives Nicky a nudge and a smile, Nicky begins to flush red.  
“You forget how big they are, the closer you get the taller they seem to be.” Nicky points to the giraffe eating from a basket above their heads, Nile has to lean back to see it so far above her. There is a gap in the ‘rock’ wall of the enclosure filled with glass right by the basket so you can see all of the giraffe, it’s feet on lower ground then Nile, it’s shoulders above her head. They are tall and the guys must have been crazy to try and ride one.  
As they walk around the enclosure they get higher until when they come across more giraffes eating, they are at head height, Nile can look the animals in the eye. Joe and Nicky have little smiles on their faces, Joe trying to reach across the rock to pet the giraffe, he can’t reach and Nicky’s hand on his back stops him climbing anything.

The next enclosure is a walk-in one, it’s an aviary, Nile seats herself on a bench to watch the colorful birds fly around. The birds fly in the branches over Nile’s head and land on the bench next to her. A noise makes Nile turn and watch the birds doing bird things in the bushes behind her. Joe and Nicky are sat on another bench the other side of the bushes, Joe is sketching, Nicky flashes her a half smile through the greenery, Nile returns to watching the birds. After a time she walks past Joe and Nicky to the other side of the aviary to look at the tiny, tiny deer. There are some birds, two different types that are about the same size as the deer. Joe joins her on one side, pouting,”Nicky says we can not take one with us. I am sure it will fit in the bag.”  
“If you want a pet we can get a cat.” Nicky says from her other side.  
“But they are so cute.”  
“No.” Nile and Nicky say in unison.   
Joe’s pout turns to a smile, “You two look so alike.”

They look at the lions lazing about on the rocks overlooking the Savannah area. Nicky makes a comment about design and use of space in the zoo’s layout. Joe flashes Nile a grin, claiming the lions are being teased.  
“The lions don’t get a roof. Unlike the leopards.” Nile points out.  
“Lions are content.” Joe claims.  
“Lions are lazy and unimaginative.” Nicky counters.  
“Like all men they are better behaved when they have wives.” Joe jokes, grinning at Nile, Nicky shakes his head.  
“Lion” Joe starts, pulls Nicky a little closer to him, with a look of love, “It was the second thing you said to me, when we had stopped fighting, after insulting my mother. It was that first winter toward the spring, you had gone out hunting deer and came back with just a leg of venison, in a state. I asked you what happened. You said lion. I had almost forgotten that you spoke.”  
Nicky gives a sad smile. “I do not remember much of that winter.”  
Joe gives him a nudge, “It was very boring, there is not a lot to remember.”  
“I was with you, that should be enough to make any day memorable.”  
“We were together but not, my all, I had not yet fallen in love with you.”  
“You two will rot my teeth.” Nile tells them, the guys give Nile matching quizzical looks. “You say sweet things to each other and sweet things rot your teeth. So, sweet words rot your teeth.”  
“It is a good job our teeth grow back, as I will rot through a set a day.” Joe proclaims.   
Nicky rolls his eyes. “I remember being paid to hunt a lion that was attacking sheep.”  
“Which time?”  
“Our first paid job?” Nicky does not sound sure.  
Joe makes a so-so hand wave, “It was an old scrawny thing, if we had left it a week it would have died of old age.”  
“It would not, the scratch it gave you was deadly.”  
“You shouted my name. I did not know if you knew it until then.” Joe winks at him.  
“It was nothing like the stories I had heard,of the lions that had harassed the army in the Holy land. Of them taking sleeping men from tents and pouncing on stragglers. The priests claimed it was a sign the land had been tainted by the unbelievers.” Joe shakes his head at Nicky's claim. “When we went to Timbuktu, the lions in the Atlas Mountains, they had such big manes and hairy bellies, long fur everywhere but their legs. We thought they were different animals.”  
“We were better at hunting by then, I made good money on the skins, plus what we got from the villagers for protecting the sheep.” Joe reminisces. “These ones are somewhere in between the Black sea lions and Atlas lions in their manes.” Joe points to male lion stretched out in the sun out on the rocks.

“When we first went to Southeast Asia there were two types of rhinoceros, a very armored two horned one and a furry, one horned one. Very different from the smoother African rhinoceros we had encountered.” Nicky tells Nile.   
“Nicky and I set a camp up one night, just the two of us, on a dried mud bank, between the small lake and the grass. That night not far from our fire, where five adult rhinos and two calves having a get together by the lake, we thought they were some sort of dry season hippopotamus. When we got into the next village, we found out they were different animals. We got laughed at by everyone. In the daytime we would only see a mother and calf together at most. No-one ever believes we saw this group together at night, everyone says rhino’s are solitary.”  
“I believe you.” Nile tells Joe. “Even if everyone else does not.”  
“Thank you Nile.”  
A group of Zebras join the Rhinos in the enclosure.  
“There is good eating on a zebra”  
“Joe!” Nile gives him a shove, hoping the children around them did not understand him.  
“Well there is, Andy would agree.” Joe huffs, a glint in his eye.  
“Andy also had a lot to say about zebra uses as mounts and beast of burden, most of it unfavorable.” Nicky stands in between Nile and Joe, “To ride a zebra is not much different from riding a small modern pony, a bit pointless, your feet drag or you are hunched up with strips. Okay for children, not that you would put a child on one”  
“Andy’s people would.” Joe cut in.  
Nicky shrugs, “Zebras can take the same weight as an ass, but they make the most obstinate mule seem good tempered. It is why no people have ever domesticated them the way horses have been.”  
“But the massive herds and the migration, that must be impressive?” The documentaries Nile has seen always seem to imply so.  
“A wall of animals lasting for days. It is a thing to be behold.” Nicky admits.  
Joe goes to say something and then stops, saying instead, “It was a sight to see Nile that is true.”

“We spent some time harvesting porcupine quills” Joe is using the reflections to watch Nicky point out the snakes to a couple of children.  
“Harvesting?”  
“You toss an animal skin over the porcupine and then pull the quill out of the skin. Andy said it would be easier to kill one and take all the quills but Nicky said this way you get more quills in the long run. We should not kill God’s creatures if we do not have too.” Joe gaze is full of love as he looks at Nicky. He turns to look properly at Nile. “Andy may have been dismissive of our harvesting, but she was happy with the beds and food it bought.”  
“You did a lot of subsistence living.” Nile comments.  
“Before banks, you only had what you could carry. In different places different things had value there was no global exchange system.”  
“You are older than banks.” Nile shakes her head.  
“Do you need a hug?” Joe jokes, Nile gives him a push.

“Once when we were at the airport in Addis Adduba waiting to load the plane, one of the airport hyenas stole Booker's bag of explosives. Nicky, Booker and I are chasing this hyena across the runway in the dead of night while Andy’s loading the plane and trying to keep it from taking off without us. The hyena drops the bag in the end, rips it open, takes a bite out of the plastique, Booker shouting so loudly, I think we are going to have to pay off security again. We make it back to the plane ahead of security with just enough plastique to do the job, Booker leg still regenerating from the bite he got. Fun times” Joe slings his arm over Nile as he tells this tale, grinning the whole time. “Do you wish to here another tale?” Nile nods, “The pack of hyena’s came into our camp as we were roasting a zebra leg, they had no fear or care of us, laughing at us, two of them taking the meat from the fire as it cooked, unafraid of fire as they where us, the rest biting and snapping if we got to close. Quynh put two arrows into one and it did not seem bothered at all. The next day we saw the pack again, one with two arrows sticking out of it. Quynh was most upset that not only did they steal our food but her arrows too, without the decency to die of its wounds.” Nile checks with Nicky that this story is indeed true. when Nile turns back to Joe, he takes a deep breath, much more somber he continues. “When I was a child I was told stories of how striped Hyenas were jins in animal form.”  
“We had heard of werehyenas and vampiric hyenas, before we heard of werewolves and vampires.” Nicky joins in, squeezing Joe’s shoulder. “Seeing them now you think they are silly tales, at night, alone, under the stars, it is very different.”  
“You will have some good ghost stories for me.” Nile jokes, trying to deal with the mood shift, these two have been giving her emotional whiplash all day..  
“When we are all sleeping well, we can tell each other tales that stop us sleeping.” Joe agrees, looking at Nicky.

They arrive back at the start, Nile leading the way back to the lemurs, they walk very slowly around the enclosure, Joe and Nicky speaking in low Italian to each other. The lemurs are just as close as before, the keepers watching to make sure people do not touch, but Nile feels very tempted, she can see Joe is too. When they finally leave the enclosure, they move by mutual consent to leave the zoo too.   
“Did you enjoy yourself, Nile?” Nicky asks as they walk toward the metro stop.   
“Yes, I did and not just because of the stories, it was nice to watch the animals.”  
“So you will come with us another time?”  
“Sure Nicky, I will.”  
“Nicky.” Joe draws out Nicky’s name. “Guess what I saw earlier?”  
“Was it the kebab shop.”  
“It was.” Joe pauses for a second, “Nicky can I have a kebab?”  
Nicky makes a show of checking his watch, it’s after three “It should be open and we need lunch.”  
They get the metro back to near the apartment, getting out one stop before they got on this morning and walking though the Real gardens to the back door to the building.   
They eat at the dining room table, food still warm and delicious, Nile can see why Joe loves this, given that they all got the salad Nicky can’t complain that this is unhealthy.

After lunch Nile asks if either of the guys mind if she spends some time on the laptop, she wants to look up some of the places and events the guys have talked about, she just wants to have a look at the distances they talk so casually about walking. Joe says he is going to do some drawing and Nicky says he might read. Nile watches Nicky move about the apartment as she sets the laptop up on the far side of the dining room table. She hears Nicky in the kitchen, then he is back in the sitting room and then Joe maneuvers him onto the sofa, pushing him to lay down, Nile fixes her eyes on the screen and wishes she had headphones. After the muffled words, come footsteps and the chair being wedged under the door handle. Joe sits himself in his armchair, “Nicky is having a nap.” Joe informs her and orders Nicky from the tone.  
Nile smiles as she calls up Wikipedia and types the first term into the search bar.

A light comes on and Nile releases how dark it has gotten as she has been concentrating on her internet searches, Joe is sitting in the armchair sewing up a hole, the hole she made in Nicky’s top, Nicky is stretched out on the sofa reading. It’s all very domestic and Nile can see them both in different clothes and different rooms doing much the same thing.  
Nile stretches her head swimming with information trying to pin stories to context. She gets the vacuum cleaner out to clean the rug in her room, like she was going to do yesterday, then she does Andy and the guys rugs as well. She sweeps her floor, then the hall and the other bedrooms and the bathroom, then she may as well do the rest of the apartment. She has a pile of sand by the end. Both Joe and Nicky have little smiles when she has finished and rejoins them, Nicky pulls his legs up so she can sit on the sofa, resting them on her lap.  
“I made Nicky naps so he would not clean.” Joe tells her, “Next you will be cooking dinner.”  
Nile feels the pressure on her legs increase, so that gives away Nicky’s thoughts on the subject.  
“We need to go shopping this evening, I do not know what will be open tomorrow, with it being Sunday.” Nicky does not look up from his book.  
“Okay.” Nile moves to get up, Nicky pins her back down.  
“After this chapter.”  
Joe offers Nile a smile, “Did you find what you were looking for.”  
“Yes, I made a start, I have got some PDF history textbooks downloading, just so I can have a rough idea what you talk about some times.” Joe looks like he is going to speak. “I know you said ask and I will but I want to know things for myself.”  
“Leave her be Joe.” Nicky warns as Joe goes to speak again.

The supermarket Nicky takes them to turns out to be opposite the apartment building, Nile had thought it was a bodega-like place from the small shop front not a full supermarket. Nicky picks a large piece of beef and chicken breast from the meat section. He gets flour, pasta, rice, milk and cheese and some cans of soup and fruit juice. But there is no fruit or veg, which Nile thinks is odd. Nicky grabs a large freezer bag and a couple of freezer blocks, already planning for when they move on. Instead of crossing the road back to the apartment they move down to the next block and the Fruit and veg shop there. Here Nicky spends his time picking and choosing a wide range of foods.

Back at the apartment, Nicky talks Nile though making bread, as he cuts vegetables and does something with the leftover rice. Nile asks him questions about buildings and architecture, Nicky is not as forthcoming as Joe had been about art, answering her questions and expanding on details when prompted but he does not go off on half related tangents and stories. Nicky has a contented look on his face when Nile catches glimpses of it, he does not send her from the room once the bread is rising and even let’s her chop some spring onions and the boiled eggs for the soup he is making. So Nile takes that all to mean he is happy with her questions and being in his space.  
After dinner, dessert is a type of rice pudding with dried fruit, it’s sweet creamy, a good companion to the soup's slightly salty umami taste.  
Later after Nile has done the washing up, with Joe’s help. Joe and Nile watch TV, a Spanish version of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire” they are both equally bad at and then a documentary on cave paintings, while Nicky finishes his book on the other side of the sofa from Nile. 

When they head to bed, Nile changes in her room, before heading into the guy's bedroom. Joe gives her a questioning look from his side of the bed, Nile points to her pillow and duvet still on the bed from last night. Nicky has the spare chair in his hands, a different question being asked. Nile closes the door behind her, Nicky sighs letting the tension go from him as he wedges the chair, Nile waits until Joe is curled around him before she turns the light off and climbs in. Nile waits for ten breaths but Nicky does not reach for her, Nile counts another five breaths before she is asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Nicky don't get to go to the zoo very often. The information zoo provide has changed a lot, different zoo concentrating on different animals and projects.   
> I hope you like it.  
> Thank you for the Kudos and comments.


	12. Day Tweleve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky and Nile go to church.  
> Andy returns.  
> They have a lot of stuff and chats.  
> Food is eaten, cards are played.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long. I knew what I wanted to write but other stuff came out on the page.  
> Plus I have been ill.  
> Thank you to everyone that has read this.  
> Thank you for all the comments and Kudos.

Day Twelve

Nile wakes to the sound of a cut off moan and the bed moving, she hears whispered words and her name. Nile’s attempt to say “I am wake”, comes out sounding more like one of Joe’s grumpy noises, causing more whispers and giggles. Nile has to crack an eye open to see what is going on. Joe on top of Nicky arms bracketing his body, both of them looking at her. Nicky pushes against Joe's chest until he sits upright, wiggling on Nicky’s lap. Nicky smacks Joe’s thigh, mouthing ‘sorry’ at Nile, Joe does not seem sorry or put off his movements, as he does not stop, just changes to a slowly circle of his hips.  
“I am going to sleep in my bed.” Nile sits up, swinging her legs off the bed. Nicky grabs her arm, Nile turns back to him. “I am not staying if you two are going to have grown-up fun time.”  
Nicky gives her a half smile “I know Nile.”  
Joe lets out a sound that is half sigh half raspberry and flops down next to Nicky, he kisses Nicky’s cheek. “Nicky wishes to leave us.”  
“Are annoyed with me, My love”  
“I do not see why you wish to leave me.”  
“I am only going to put the bread on for breakfast, stop being dramatic.” Nicky has turned his face and body toward Joe, tightening his grip on Nile’s arm.  
“Or you could let me go and I could do it, you two could have morning sex.” Nile tells the guys, testing Nicky’s hold on her.  
“Nile you are sweet to offer but Nicky is not in the mood, you in the room or not.” Joe flails his arm about until he lands on Nile to pat her, clumsily, “I have not roused his interest and continuing will only make me more frustrated or guilty that it has all been one sided.”  
Nile resigns herself to a life being told far too much about other people sex lives.  
“I like to bring you pleasure, my love.” Nicky reassures Joe.  
“I know but I wish it could be mutual, every-time.”  
Nile hears more than sees the kiss, before Nicky turns over to face Nile, releasing her arm and opens his for a hug. Nile hesitates before moving to cuddle into Nicky’s chest, he is  
warm and solid, Nicky just sighs contently, Joe’s arm snakes across Nile's hip.  
Nicky breaks the warm silence with a chuckle, just as Nile is about to fall asleep again. “What?” Nile mumbles half asleep against Nicky’s chest.  
“Joe, he has got his way.”  
Joe's words are lost to Nile, it’s a language she does not know and muffled by Nicky’s body. Nicky chuckles again  
“What did Joe say?” Nile's words run together but Nicky understands her.  
“He says that he has not got his wish as I can make clear coherent sentences.”  
Nile means to say okay but she is falling back to sleep, Nicky is annoyingly moving again, tipping Nile to a drowsy wakefulness, Nile refuses to open her eyes, Nicky stills. When Nicky movies again, both Nile and Joe make unhappy sounds. The arm on her hip tightens again, move around her waist and Nile seeks out the warmth of a chest with her cooling cheek without truly waking up.

Nile wakes again, her head pressed against Joe’s chest, feet still hanging off the far side of the bed, Joe arm across her waist. As Nile pulls away Joe mutters “Nicolo.”  
“Not Nicky.” Nile tells him as she sits up, Nile has not seen Joe wake that fast yet, he is sat bolt upright with a look of horror on his face. Nile just starts laughing, as his face shows confusion then annoyance.  
“He thinks this is funny.”  
“Your face is funny.”  
“He is evil.”  
“He is your husband.”  
“Yes, he is.” Joe’s face had a dreamy look to it.  
“Who has made us breakfast.” The bedroom door left open has let’s in the smell of baking bread.  
“Yes.” “Joe says with a smile and they both climb out of bed.

Nicky is on the sofa reading, spottily playing something Nile would call classical, the guy’s, Nile thinks, would most likely call modern. A snort escapes at the idea.  
“Yes, Nile?” Nile wonders if can learn to arch an eyebrow like Joe.  
“Do you call it classical music or something else?”  
“It’s Chevalier de Saint-Georges.” Nicky completely misses the point.  
“Is he no longer banned?” Joe's words are distorted by him stretching upward.  
“He was never banned, just too royal for revolutionary France and then unpopular.”  
“Nicky was attracted to him.” Joe teases without a care this husband was attracted to someone else. Joe flops over the other arm of the sofa, Nicky lifts his arms so Joe can rest his head on Nicky’s lap.  
“He was a good fencer.” Nicky concedes “And played the violin well, his compositions were good.”  
“Nicky has a type.”  
“And you do not.” Nicky glares down at Joe.  
“But you never have, been with someone else, Nicky.” From everything said, Nile does not think he has but they also keep making these teasing comments.  
The look Nicky levels her, is icy, “Joe is the only one I have ever chosen to be with.”  
Nile nods, there is that word choice again, so similar to Joe’s words in Trier, she is not going to ask for those stories it would serve no point, she knows something happened to both of them against their will. Nile hopes in her long life she never has a reason to ask them to share their experience.  
“Now you have upset her.” Nicky chides.  
“Nicky.” Whatever Joe was to say next is cut off by Nicky’s hand covering Joe’s mouth, thumb and index finger squeezing his nostrils closed.  
“Nicky you will suffocate him.” Nile points outs, as Joe tries to pry Nicky’s hand from his face.  
“He should not continue to say things that upset you, Nile, it is disrespectful.” Nile comes to sit on the armchair nearest Nicky, as Nicky looks down at Joe who has stopped struggling. Nicky removes his hand, Joe sucks in a deep breath. “Now tell Nile.”  
“I apologize Nile for upsetting you with talk of Nicky’s wandering eye.” Nicky thumps Joe in the shoulder, Nile winces at the sound, healing or not that hurt. Joe sits up, rubbing his shoulder. “Nile just because we have found the perfect weapon does not mean we do not look at what else has been crafted.”  
Nile laughs, “The modern expression is ‘Just because I am not buying doesn’t mean I can’t go window shopping’.”  
Joe stomach gurgles. Nicky checks his watch, “You two get washed, I will make coffee and sandwiches, we will be late for church.”  
“Yes Parde” Joe mutters, Nicky giving him a shove as he stands. Nile follows Joe as he goes into his bedroom, detouring into the bathroom.

By the time the three of them have met up again in the kitchen Nicky has got coffees made and a stack of sandwiches on the plate  
“Do you know which church we are going to?” Nile asks Nicky, he responds with a smile not giving any more information away.  
“What is Joe going to do while we are in church?”  
“I will draw and people watch. Do not worry, I will be outside, should you need to leave.”  
“I was not worried about having to get away, I just don't want you to be bored.”  
“By this point in our relationship I am pretty sure I have waited for Nicky outside church for at least a year.”  
“Joe, I have spent the same amount of time waiting for you, while you have been at prayer.” Nicky teases back with a fond glance.  
“Never, your services take forever.” Joe fakes outrage.  
Nine eats sandwiches and drinks her coffee as they bicker about time spent in prayer, services and countries predominant religions, strangely excited for this new experience. If it works, if it meets her needs that she finds she has, then this could be the small new thing, she has chosen all by herself, to be the place she can say really this is the start of my new life.

They finally leave the apartment, the guys still bickering about something that Nile had tuned out. After crossing the bridge into the old town, they turn left at the Roman ruin square the other direction from the main cathedral. Nicky stops them in front of a nondescript plain building, it’s old but Nile would not have said it was a church from the outside kind of not what she was expecting. Once through the iron work door, Nile marvels at the high blue painted vaulted ceiling, the stucco work and the art in the chapels. Joe and Nicky remain at the back of the church as she does a lap, taking in all the works on display, Joe leaving just before she makes it back to them, Nicky ushers her into a pew on the left hand side near the back. Everyone else in the church seems to settle down, sitting down and a silence falls on them all. The priest enters and the service begins.

Nicky goes up to receive communion at the end of mass, returning to sit next to Nile with a smile, they sing another hymn, have another prayer and the priest blesses the congregation and they are all dismissed. Nicky stays seated as the church empties out, then he moves to light a candle at one of the side chapels. Nile stands in the central aisle, waiting as he prays, Joe comes into the church, joining Nile with a nudge. “Was it what you hoped for?”  
“Yes.” Nile finds the comment to be completely true when she thinks about it, she had no idea what was going on some of the time, but she could follow the readings and the homily, she knew some of the prayers. Nile finds the feeling of the whole experience was calming and reassuring, she felt part of something bigger than her and it is what she wanted.  
“Good.” Joe gives her a blinding smile and a small nudge, Nile returns the smile and the nudge. Nicky joins them, before it turns into a shoving match, an air of peace around him, he gifts Joe a full smile before heading outside. Nile follows Joe outside into the sunlight, her eyes adjusting just in time to see Nicky push Joe against the wall opposite, Nicky’s hand spread open on Joe’s chest, as he kisses Joe. Joe recovers from the shock of Nicky’s actions, placing his hands on Nicky’s hips, just as Nicky pulls back, resting his forehead on Joe’s sharing the same air. Nicky steps back completely, turns to look at Nile.  
“I believe it is an American custom to go to breakfast after Church, but can we return to the apartment so I can prepare dinner and then we can go out for the rest of the morning.”  
“Yes, sure whatever you want Nicky, I have no plans for today.” Nile gets over being startled by Nicky’s change in behavior, mouthing to Joe ‘What the fuck was that?’ once Nicky has started to walk away.  
‘He is in a good mood.’ Joe mouths back, fingers going to touch his lips, with a smile.  
“The both of you are impossible.” Nile raises her voice so Nicky can hear.  
Joe shrugs as he comes away from the wall, placing his hand in the small of Nile's back to steer her after Nicky.

They can hear the TV when Joe opens the apartment door, Nicky is reaching for his knife as they enter. Nicky taking the lead Joe behind him, blocking the entry way in front of Nile, from over their shoulders Nile can see Andy is sat in her armchair, Nicky is moving over to the dining room table. Nile can see five different swords laying on the table.  
“Hello Andy, come back to us.” Nile did not mean to make it sound so angry, but, now she has said it she is not sorry about.  
“Hello Nile, Good morning Nicky, no hug Joe?” Andy sounds teasing, not sarcastic.  
Joe looks at Nicky who gives him a nod and then he looks at Nile for permission, she nods, once Joe is moving to Andy, Nile looks at Nicky who gives her a flash of a smile, not angry that Joe checked with her. Joe hugs Andy, spinning her around, Andy smiles hugging him back.  
“The rest of the stuff is in the car, carrying everything up three flights of stairs did not appeal to me.” Andy tells them all once Joe puts her down.  
There is a stillness between the four of them, Joe’s face starts to fall and Nile breaks the silence. “We can use the lift, Nicky, you and I will empty the car, Joe you can bring things from the lift to the apartment. Bring the keys so you can come back up with the first load.” Nile catches Nicky’s top in a pinch giving his arm a small tug, to get him moving. Nicky turns storming out of the apartment, only remembering to sheath his knife as he enters the hallway.  
Andy hands Joe the car keys, “It is okay Joe.” Nile has never heard Andy’s sound like that, like she is trying not to spook an animal. “Nile is just looking after you both like I asked her.”  
“Joe, Please go and check on Nicky, I think that he is angry, not anything else, you can deal with him best in either case.”  
Joe looks at both women and leaves, Nile brushing his shoulder as he passes. “Nicky is pissed at you.” Nile tells Andy.  
“I guessed that.”  
“I am not much happier.”  
“I gathered.”  
“You can not do this to them, you can not fuck about with Nicky’s mental health, with Joe’s emotional well-being. They love you, they worship you and you can’t walk out on them because you feel like it.”  
“I am in charge, what I say goes.”  
“You are not my King, I did not swear allegiance to your flag and I am not going to if you keep pulling this crap.” Nile realizes she has been shouting, turns and storms out of the apartment slamming the door. Nile stomps down the stairs and out the back door, almost running into Joe and Nicky as they stare at the car. Nile Just stares as well, how the hell did Andy drive that back from Goussenvile, how was she not stopped by the police. The car sits low in its suspension, the boot held shut with string, the backseat and passenger side filled to the roof, there are lumps under dust sheets strapped to the roof.  
“What the…” Nile starts.  
“I guess she emptied out the safe house.” Joe sounds a little shocked.  
“I feel guilty for shouting at her just now.”  
“Don’t be.” Nicky's voice is tense.  
“Joe, Nicky, where do we start?”  
“Eh?” Joe finally looks at her.  
“Is unpacking an engineering problem or a logistics one?” Nile asks, this seems to shake the guys out of their stupor.  
“The boot, then the roof, there is no plan or design to this mess.” Nicky moves forward.  
“Andy can not pack.” Joe joins Nicky at the boot.  
Inside are the duffles, Nile remembers from the safe house bedroom, half a dozen of them, all crammed full, Joe goes to open one, Nicky’s hand stops him “We will sort everything out when we get it all upstairs, in the apartment.” The ‘in private’ Nile knows goes unsaid.  
Nicky keeps passing bags to Joe, under the duffels are rifle bags and cases, three of them, plus cases for other weapons. Nile takes what Joe can not carry and heads to the lift. Nile leaves her baggage in the lift with Joe and goes back to the car. Nicky is untying the ropes to the roof, the last of the cases lined up by the door, boot firmly shut. Nile folds up the dust sheets individually, underneath resting on two rugs is the dining table, five wooden chairs, the coffee table, an armchair and number of lamps, dust sheets used to hold everything in place. Nicky stacks the furniture by the door, Nile moves it to the lift until Joe comes down the stairs again and the two of them fill the lift. Joe leaves the washing basket and empty bags with Nile for her to place loose items from inside the car. The passenger side seems to have the contents of the kitchen, pots, pans, crockery, cutlery, dry goods and tins. Nile fills the basket and bags, with the items not in the drawer Andy has shoved in the foot well. Joe comes back out and they remove the dining table and armchair. Nile rolls up the rugs once they are free, these are the real deal, she saw enough of them in Afghanistan, hand-made, silk and incredibly expensive. Nile takes everything she has unpacked so far to the lift for the next load to go up. Between the front seats and the back is the TV, a mirror and half a dozen paintings, the bedding being used to protect it. The back seats are a mess of items. Books shoved into a mop bucket and umbrella stand, drawers from a desk full of items, a stack of notebooks, two ornate inlay chests, two rolls of leather, a mop and broom, a halberd, a long bow, a pike, a clock and statue, more books in a crate, wireless routers and a laptop on top of a crate of cables and electronic equipment, bag of art equipment, rope, climbing gear, ice skates, roller skates, a bag of shoes, a skateboard, two different items that Nile can not even guess at, under the driver's seat is the dustpan and brush with some spray cleaners and washing up liquid. Nile finds cleaning cloths and four different types of oil and candles, some still in the holders under the passenger seat. Then the car is empty, Nile closes all the windows tight and locks the doors, making sure that they have left nothing behind on the street or by the lift, Nile rides up to the apartment. The guys are bringing the last of the stuff from the hall into the apartment.  
The main room is looking a little full, there is stuff everywhere.  
“We are going to have to get a van.” Nile says looking at the mess. It will be better once they have sorted everything out, she tells herself.  
“I could not bring the beds or the other armchairs chairs, but you said the beds needed replacing before and well one of the arm chairs was covered in Booker's blood.” Andy tells Nicky, “I think I got everything important. I could not remember which was the painting we found when we claimed the place, but you like it so we kept it, so I brought them all.”  
If Nile did not know better she would say Andy is nervous. Nicky is standing still in the most unnerving way.  
“Nicky, same plan as yesterday morning?” Nile asks.  
“Grazie, Nile, Por favour.”  
“Joe we are going out.” Nile moves to Joe's side.  
“But.” Joe protests confused.  
“Now Joe, we are going for a walk.” Nile drags him to the door. “Nicky does not want you here, he asked me to take you to the park, come on.” Nile whispers at him as she shoves him out the door. Joe keeps looking back at the apartment door even as Nile drags him down the stairs. Nile stops on the next landing. “Joe, yesterday Nicky asked me to take you to the park when Andy came back. He does not want you there when he is talking with Andy.”  
“I should be there to support him.”  
“He did not want Andy to feel that it was all of us against her. Nicky has no doubt in his mind you support him.”  
“Andy knows you and Nicky are angry with her. Even in his anger his kindness wishes to protect her.”  
“And you Joe, let Nicky sort this out, let him look after us and Andy. He can say what needs to be said and we can just be happy Andy is back and safe.”  
“I am happy she has returned to us.”  
“Me too Joe.” Nile gives Joe a hug, she pulls back holding his arms, “I get the ‘I want to hug someone and hit them at the same time’ thing.” Joe still looks upset, “Not you, Andy. We can let Nicky do the hitting and we can do the hug, no conflict for us.”  
“But I am leaving Nicky by himself to face her.” Joe is turning in Nile’s grip, leaning back toward the stairs they have just come down.  
“No you are not,” Nile pulls Joe back toward her, “you are leaving him free to do his job, to expand on whatever he negotiated with Andy all those years ago, to protect you, the two of you, let him work, say whatever he needs to say without you reacting to both of them. Do you understand?”  
“I do not like it”  
“I didn’t ask if you like it, I asked if you understand.”  
“Yes, I understand.”  
“Good. We are going for a walk and coming back with cake.” Nile holds hands with Joe waiting for him to move, reluctantly, slowly he moves downstairs.

Nile leads Joe out the back door past the car into the Real gardens, here she loosens her grip on Joe’s hand making it a more comfortable hand-hold, slowing her pace down to a quick walk from a basic jog. Joe stops looking back.  
“You said he needs to be angry, that first night.” Nile tries talking to Joe again. Joe looks at her and makes a sound, Nile is going to take as agreement. “You and Andy are both worried he is bottling things up and going to explode.” Joe finally matches Nile’s pace coming to walk beside her rather than lag behind. “Nicky knows he can not kill her, she is in no physical danger from him” Joe makes a go on noise “Emotionally she might need a shock to the system, so she stops pulling this crap.” Joe shrugs. “Things are different now with the four of us, no Booker, I need training to fit into the group.” Joe makes a noise, “No I know I do, combat training mostly, so we get used to how are move and fit in with you three. Booker did explosives, someone has got to take that place, I don't know all your codes and moves, we need to do paint balling or something.” Joe makes a questioning noise. “Paintball, it is like combat drills but not with live ammo, the guns have capsules of paint in them, if you get paint on you, you are dead.”  
“Okay, we could try that.” Joe finally speaks.  
“I’ll look it up later. Anyway my point is whatever deal Nicky got with Andy.”  
“It’s not a deal, it is a list of things we will or will not do, tasks we will be not part of. Things Andy should be respectful of and make allowance for. A chain of command, times when she must do what Nicky says. In return we will follow her.”  
They cross the road to walk down the boulevard with the park in the middle, Nile saw a bakery here when they came back with the kebabs.  
“Sounds like a deal to me.” Nile says when they have finished crossing the road.  
“It’s an agreement.”  
“Okay Joe, I bow to judgement.”  
“A deal involves business or money, an agreement is a coming together in harmony on a subject.”  
“Okay an agreement, I get the difference. My point is it might need updating,”  
“Perhaps. I do not think she can hurt us badly enough inside the old agreement for me to want to leave, not with you left behind, not the way Andy is now.”  
“I would not be left behind, if she hurt you or Nicky enough to walk, I would go too.”  
“You would.”  
“Yes, I told Nicky it would be the three of us.” Nile is suddenly unsure, “If the two of you will have me.”  
“Of course, Nile,” Joe pulls Nile into a hug by her hand, it is quick, they walk on a few steps to the bakery. Nile buys four slices of a cake with lots of fruit on top, plus pastries for each of them. Her purchases bagged up, Nile leads Joe over the Turia park and into the old town.  
“Joe where would you have liked to have gone today, if Andy had not turned back up?”  
“I was going to try and get you to come look around the Casa Museu Benliure, It’s an artists house with a gallery.”  
“That could be interesting.”  
“I think Nicky would just like to go for a walk in the park, nothing to taxing.” Joe stretches, “Now we had the car back Nicky would want to go hiking.”  
“Tomorrow?”  
Joe shrugs, he looks worried again, Nile takes his hand to give him a bit of reassurance, but she is worried too. They wander up and down streets toward the cathedral. Nile spots a shop that sells smoothies, stopping to get one for each of them. From the shop they make their way across the square in front of the cathedral and then past that. People dressed for church are in the square and walking in family groups, Nile thinks they must have been to a late morning Mass, as it’s nearly mid day. Nile and Joe make their way back to the edge of the old town, through the crowds, over the bridge Nile has come to think of as theirs, as they come to the apartment building Nile takes all the bags so Joe can have his hands free for whatever they find inside.

Nile pauses after Joe opens the door, there is no shouting, no dust, no iron-rich smell, the apartment seems to have no damage, things don’t look any worse than when they left. Andy comes out from the bedrooms, pressing her lips into a tight smile, she looks older somehow. Rising from the sofa is Nicky, no long battling the anger inside him. Joe rushes forward, Nicky, dried tear stains on his face pulls Joe into a hug the second he is in range. Nile indicates the kitchen and Andy follows her in.  
“Nicky finished his negotiations about ten minutes ago. “ Andy tells her, as Nile puts the bags on the side.  
Nile hands Andy the smoothie they got her, “No banana. Did you two reach an agreement?”  
“Nicky said his piece, I’ll do better.” Andy takes a sip of her drink. “Talking to Copley at the airport was a good idea. Making them go to the zoo, that was good too. Sleeping arrangements. Thinking ahead with Booker and transport. Looking after Joe. I can’t fault your leadership. You are doing good Kid, I am proud of you.” Andy takes another sip of her drink. “Is there food?”  
“Just when I thought the Pod people had you.” Nile mutters as she unpacks the cakes. She plates up a piece for Andy, handing it to her, fishing the little forks out of the draw that Nicky ingrained into them to use for cakes as Andy waits.

Andy sits on the sofa across from Nicky, Joe sat on the coffee table opposite Nicky eating Nicky’s cake, his own sat on the table next to him. Nile leaves her drink and cake on the dining table to have a proper look at the paintings Andy brought back.  
“It’s a self portrait as an Amazon by Artemisia Gentileschi,” Joe points to the painting Nile is looking at “Andy won it in a bet with one of the Medici's, a memento of one that got away.”  
“She was a strong, determined woman, I liked her.” Andy sounds defensive.  
“She turned Andy down.” Joe fake whispers.  
“Many times.” Nicky adds, Andy huffs prodding him with her foot.  
“The still life is by Rachel Ruysch.” Joe tells Nile when she looks at the next painting.  
“Joe picked it up for me.” Nicky says with a half smile.  
“If I can not bring you fresh flowers at least you can look upon them.” Joe is pointing at the painting like it is a gift for Nicky he just got.  
“Winter in Northern Europe was dark, cold and drab after years in the far east.” Nicky explains.  
“We had to escape to Malta.” Joe's voice has a number of tones to it, Nicky is grinning, Andy shakes her head, she catches Nile’s eye. “It is not what happened, not at all.”  
“What about the other paintings.” Nile asks when it looks like Joe is about to argue with Andy.  
“We kept the Saint Sebastian from the church, obviously.” Nicky says with a wave of his hand. Not obviously, thinks Nile, until she finds the painting of the man shot with arrows tied to a tree.  
“Nicky, you have always been called some version of Nicolo, right.”  
“Yes.” The amount of confusion Nicky gets in one word is impressive. The following silence is broken by Joe’s laughter and then a thud, as he really does fall to the floor laughing.  
“Explain.” Nicky demands prodding Joe with his foot.  
“It’s a white guy tied to a tree being shot with arrows, just checking you are not messing with the church.” Nile tells him.  
Nicky turns his gaze back to Joe, prodding him again much harder with his foot. “Spiegare.”  
Joe rubbed his side where Nicky prodded him. “She is asking if you are Saint Sebastian, she is thinking of the story from back when we rode off together.”  
“Bestemmia, Blasphemy” Nicky looks at Nile in outrage.  
“He is the Patron Saint of archer’s and he protects soldiers and pilgrims from plague, Even I knew him from the Churches before my first death.” Joe explains from the floor. “Eh, I never made the connection. Nicky..”  
“Joe do not say any more.” Nicky warns.  
“Is he the Homosexual one?” Andy asks  
“According to Booker.” Nicky grits out, “But that was much later and mostly due to the paintings, Saint Jaun de la Cruz would be better.”  
“I did like his poems, some were as erotic as Joe’s, better than your normal church stuff.” Andy agrees.  
Nicky gives a knowing smile and a faint blush reddens his cheeks “Or Saint Symon and Saint John of Emessa.” Whoever they are has Joe up off the floor crowding Nicky, Nile clearly hears two languages being mixed up in his words, maybe more, Nicky replies with more of the same missmash and a breathy “Yusuf” before they both move forward to kiss. Andy rolls her eyes, She pushes Nicky and then Joe with her foot, all that happens is Joe gives Andy the finger. Andy looks at Nile, then at the guys with some hand waves, a clear you stop this. Nile smiles, she shakes her head in refusal of the challenge, Nile goes back to looking at the paintings.  
“Nile, make them stop” Andy complains.  
“Nope, Nicky knew what he was saying and what it would do to Joe, You have been around them long enough to know the signs. Just throw a blanket over them.”  
“Nicky it is rude to laugh when I kiss you.” Nile can hear Joe’s pout.  
“This is why Nile is my favorite.” Nicky sounds happy, when Nile looks over he is resting back on the sofa, all loose limbed and the most relaxed Nile has seen him in days.  
“It is a good sight to see, Andy.” Nile says without thinking. Joe’s color darkens as he sits back onto the coffee table from where he was kneeling between Nicky’s legs, Andy has an evil smirk on her face, Nicky leans his head back to look at Nile, “If you want to watch.” and then starts to laugh unable to continue.  
“I meant Nicky all relaxed and happy.” Nile is flustered as she realizes what they have taken her to have meant.  
“He is normally relaxed and happy afterward.” Andy tells her.  
“True, my love does know what he is doing.” Nicky looks back at Joe, whose embarrassment increases.  
“Like you have anyone to compare him too, he could be fumbling around with no finesses and you would not know.” Andy teases.  
“My love is perfection, why would I let anyone substandard taste me, when they will not come up to even half his measure.”  
Joe makes some noise in the back of this throat and Andy laughs. “Either take him to your room or stop playing Nicky, you win.”  
Nicky leans forward, running his hand through Joe’s hair and kissing his temple, he whispers something to him, Joe replies and Nicky sits back again, picking up his slice of cake. “Sure?”  
“Yes, Nicolo.” Joe's voice is thick, but clear. Nicky nods and goes back to eating. Joe stands and walks over to Nile, Nile turns back to the painting so she can not see anymore of the effect the last five minutes have had on Joe.  
“Is the statue meant to be Andy?” Nile thinks it looks too sweet to be Andy, if an armored knight with sword and spear can be said to be sweet. the other three laugh.  
“It’s Nicky.” Andy chuckles, in a way that Nile guesses is going to be a joke until the next new immortal comes along. “Nicolo the squire, By that Maltese boy theirs.”  
“Melchiorre Cafa” Nicky turns back from Nile to Andy “and he was not our boy.”  
“You paid his passage.”  
“He was a friend, we had rented a house from his family, and we were headed to Roma anyway.” Nicky argues.  
“You introduced him to that sculptor and your descent.”  
“Not everyone from Genoa is a descendant of mine.” Nicky turns to Joe “She means Baciccio Gaulli and Ferrata.”  
“Nicky’s boy made it for him, Nicky claims as a thank you, I claim it was a seduction.”  
“It was not, it was a gift.” Nicky waves his fork at Andy.  
“I do not believe Nicky ever looked that angelic.” Joe nudges Nile.  
“He is your husband.”  
“True and I know he was never that pure.” Andy snots and Nicky gives Joe a finger with a smile.  
“See he is no angel.”  
Nile points to a picture of a woman holding a palm leaf bathed in light with a three windowed tower behind her, “Who is that?”  
“Saint Barbara, Nicky got it for Booker, he thought it was funny.” Joe tells her.  
“It is funny.” Nicky calls from the sofa.  
“Because.” Nile asks.  
“She is Patron saint of people who use explosives and miners.” Nicky says, “ I felt Booker could use some divine help when learning to use nitro-glycerin and the other explosives.”  
“You trolled Booker with art?”  
“Yes.” Nicky sounds unsure.  
“Trolled, to deliberately and systematically annoy someone.” Nile explains  
“Ah, then yes I did.”  
“The landscape?” It’s a picture of a snow capped volcano in the background, mountains and a waterfall in the middle and tropical trees at the front, it looks familiar to Nile like she should know the piece..  
“It’s by Freddy Church, a test piece for one of his bigger works.” Joe tells her, “I like this one better than the final piece.”  
“Freddy Church, as in Frederick Edwin Church.”  
“Yes, is he still popular in America?”  
“We did him in school” Nile pauses to translate to old people English, she can tell when she needs to from the shape of the silence now, “he was one of the topics of my degree classes, well the Hudson river school.”  
Joe nods, “It’s not a true view but I think it captures the feel of central America.”  
They both look at the painting for a while. Nile looks at the banner of arms hung over the mirror. ”Whose standard is that?”  
“It was the standard for a company at arms that no longer serves a country that does not exist. It is Nicky’s and mine, it and us are all that left.” Joe is being vague and doing the sweeping hand movement that Nile has come to know means that he is glossing over a lot of details. He walks back to the coffee table to collect his cake, breaking a chunk off to give to Nicky.  
“The birds?” Nile thinks they might be birds of paradise on the smallest painting, it looks like a study or maybe something scientific.  
“Faraq Al-Java, he and I both did drawing for studies into flora and fauna in Indonesia, most of his work was lost when the ship he was on sank. He was a good artist, a friend.” Joe moves over to where Nile is standing.  
“You bring all this stuff from other places to Goussenville?” Nile sits at the dining table to eat her cake, Joe follows her.  
“Safe houses are a new thing, a Booker-era thing, travel has gotten so much faster, we don’t spend ages going from place to place anymore, we pick our battles not stumble into them, now.” Nicky is talking from the sofa, Andy huffs at his joke. “We brought items to the house in Amsterdam from scattered homes and personal stores, then to Muinch, then Marseille, finally Goussenville. Europe has been unstable, somewhat better these last fifty years, we have not had nearly as much trouble with safe houses in the rest of the world.”  
“You know between the Paintings and the rugs, that’s a couple of million dollars in stuff.” Nile feels the need to tell them about the wealth they so casually amassed.  
Joe just shrugs, “I am sure there are some more gemstones in one of the bags and some coins that are valuable to.”  
“I think she would have been horrified by our little house, Yusuf.” Nicky comes to stand by Joe.  
“Which one, I have always liked for you to have beautiful things.”  
“Any of them, we have always been hedonists when we can be.” Nicky levels a knowing look at Joe, before looking at Nile, “Nile, these items are hundreds of years old, time has made them valuable. These rugs were no more expensive than the woolen ones you could find in Europe. The paintings were inexpensive when we acquired them. The gemstones and coins payment for our work. Time, Nile, gives us great wealth but it can take it all away again. There have been times when our swords and clothes were all we had, times when a pocket full of coins could not get you food. Times when you would give all your wealth for a cup of water.” Nicky sighs “Money matters, wealth does not.”  
“I think she is not old enough to understand, Nicky. I hope Allah sees fit, she will never go through the hardships that helped us understand.” Joe wraps an arm around Nicky’s waist, as they both shiver at some memory.  
“The things we keep safe, we store away mean more due to what they are, then the cost of them. A time, a place, a person we wish to remember.” Andy's voice is weary, like when Nile first met her.  
“Sorry.” Nile had not meant to destroy the mood.  
“You are forgiven Nile, you did not know it would upset us. It is, generation differences.” Nicky tells her, testing out the modern term. “We had the same conversation with Booker.”  
“She has not told you, you should have been beheaded in the revolution, my aristocrat.” Joe says with a grin.  
“He was most put out when I said I had been.” Nicky looks at Nile, “Not his revolution, we stayed out of that conflict. ”  
“Would not have come back for another twenty years if it was not for Booker.” Andy sound’s irritated even two hundred years later.  
“It was a cold winter even for Russia.” Joe shudders.  
“You were not left frozen, nude and toothless in the snow.” Nicky warns Joe, turning back to Nile “It’s how we found Booker.”  
“Toothless?”  
“Corpse robbers would take the teeth of the dead to sell for use in dentures.” Nicky explains.  
“Gross”  
Joe laughs, Nicky smiles before moving away from the table. “All the bedding needs a wash, I am going to put the first load on, Joe can you empty out the duffels, please.”  
Joe dutifully sits on the floor by the duffles, pulling one in front of him and opening it.  
“Put the clothes we are keeping in a pile for the wash.” Nicky shouts from the cupboard.  
Joe mutters something under his breath, that Nile can not make out.  
“I heard that.”  
“Love you, my all.” Joe calls back.  
Nicky comes to lean on the wall of the entrance way, “I love you too.” He really means it, the two of them share a fond look.  
“I am going to do the washing up, the stuff from the safe house properly needs a clean.” Nile stands up, she needs a little space from the shifting tensions in the room.  
“Thank you Nile. I saw some boxes outside, I am going to see if we can use them for packing.” Nicky turns and leaves before anyone can stop him.  
“Guess we all need a little space.” Nile huffs out.  
“Not your fault Nile.” Joe smiles up at her.  
Andy brings things into the kitchen as Nile runs the water, the pile is huge by the time Nile has filled the drying rack with plates. Andy takes the tea towel and starts trying up, the five plates from the house go into the cupboard, the rest onto the table.  
“How did sparring practice go?”  
“I really like the quarterstaff, I put Nicky on his ass twice when we free-spared, I got him in the head too. The free-spar with the batons was really good. I enjoyed using both weapons.I mean it was just sticks but the style and concept. Joe wants to get me an extendable baton to use. Using sticks as swords was a wash. I want to try again with the real thing or proper practice swords but I had a good time. I got to watch Joe and Nicky mess around with the sword-sticks, they are really good.”  
Andy grunts and nods her head.  
“Then Nicky let me have a knife and try to stab him, I managed to cut his side.” Nile is proud of her achievement and Andy should appreciate it too.  
Andy smiles, “Joe let this happen? Well done.”  
“Yes, well not the first time Nicky suggested it, but after the sword fight, when I asked.” Nile lets the water out of the sink now all the flatware and glasses are done and the water has grown cold.”Is the well done for cutting Nicky or getting Joe to let me use a knife?”  
“Both. Joe can be a little protective.”  
“Understatement.” Nile smiles as she refills the sink. “I am really happy your back, Andy.”  
“You are doing okay without me.” Andy leans on the side next to Nile, “It’s good to know they will be in good hands when I am gone.”  
“But that won’t be for years Andy.”  
Andy snots “I am no young maiden like you, Nile, my child bearing years are behind me.”  
“Andy, you have another forty years, maybe another ten this active but years.”  
Andy thinks about this for a bit playing with the tea towel, when Andy does look back up it’s to change the subject. “Did you find my letters?”  
“Yes, it did. I hid them in my room, the guy’s haven’t seen them. Do you want them back?”  
“No.”  
“Do you want to destroy them?”  
“No, keep them safe somewhere. Thank you.” Andy looks nervous, “Did you read them?”  
“I skimmed the first few lines of mine, but that’s all.”  
Andy hums, still looking uncomfortable, Nile takes pity on her. “You want to go and talk to Joe?” There is a glimmer of hope in Andy’s eye, “I’ll tell Nicky you were helpful and supportive or whatever this was.”  
“He said I should show an interest in you, that you need to feel like you have a place with us, that you are not a burden.”  
“I don’t think you were supposed to tell me that.” Nile tries with only some success to force the emotions down.  
“Do I need to get Joe?”  
“No, I am good.”  
“We do need you, you are a good distraction and connection to now that we have come distanced from.”  
“That is the cold comfort I have come to expect from you.” Nile’s smile is more of a grimace, but she knows Andy has meant all she has said.  
Andy pats Nile's shoulder, “I am going to go and talk to Joe.”  
Nile hums an affirmative as Andy leaves the room.

Nile has dried the glasses and cookware by the time Nicky has returned, carrying boxes and newspapers, she is now washing the cutlery.  
“Sunday editions are so big, I think we will only need one but I got two.” Nicky puts the newspapers on the only clear bit of the table and starts layering the first box plates, then a sheet of paper.  
Nile hums in response, part of her is surprised that newspapers are still a thing, the rest of her concentrates on not cutting herself with the very sharp kitchen knives. Nile moves on to the kitchen equipment, trying to guess the uses of some of the stranger shapes before asking Nicky.  
“Zester, for citrus peel.”  
“Crimming, for pastry.”  
“Garlic press, for squashing garlic.”  
“Sardine server, for small whole fish.”  
“Snail tongs, for eating snails.”  
“Gross.” Nile pulls a face at the thought.  
“French” Nicky chuckles “When we ate locus, Booker went hungry instead, the same when we had caterpillars.”  
“I’ve had meal worms, the even ones not soaked in tequila and sugar didn’t taste bad, it's just that snails seem slimy.”  
“No worse than oysters or mussels. It is about how you cook them.”  
“Why are there odd looking blunt dinner knives?”  
“They are for fish, the trident forks are for fish, the long two pronged ones are for snails.”  
“Fancy.”  
“Common once, if you had a certain standard of living.” Nicky stands next to Nile at the sink, mirroring Andy from earlier. “You know we will share any money with you equally that we make and what money we have is used communally.”  
“I know, it’s what we have been doing. It’s just when you grow up poor, worried about money all the time, you have a mind set even when it’s clearly not a problem any more.”  
Nicky rests his hand on her shoulder and kisses her temple, before he goes back to packing.  
“Andy was being nice”  
“Was she?”  
“It was creepy, like the pod people had got her.”  
“Pod people?”  
“You know they come and swap the real person for someone who looks the same but is ever so slightly different.”  
“Ah doppelganger, yes.”  
“She did the drying up and gave me compliments.”  
“I can see how that would be disturbing.” Nile can hear the smile in Nicky’s voice. Nile drains the water from the sink finally finished. “She says I have a needed place in the team.”  
“You do.”  
“Then didn’t say it was to do the washing up,” Nile turns to Nicky holding up her hand. “I like doing it, I don’t mind doing it. Even if I do nothing else I can say today I did the washing up. One task completed, something achieved, life made a little better.”  
“I feel the same way about cooking, the one thing I can do for everyone.” The admissions hang between them, a new understanding agreed. “To be fair to Andy, she probably has not noticed, it took ten years for her to realize I did most of the cooking.”  
Nile laughs, Andy is not the most domestic person Nile has ever encountered, she seems more like her little brother's friends, used to housework just happening around them.  
Nile takes one of the boxes into the sitting room, there are three mounds of clothes on the floor, Joe is sat at the dinning table sorting through one of the drawers, the books that were not in the crate are all stacked at one end, then the notebooks, finally the food and cleaning surplus.  
“Are we keeping all the books?”  
Joe nods, so Nile takes her box and starts filling it with books, most are in French, a few in German by the same author with cartoons on the front, Joe’s Nile thinks. The Italian ones are detective novels or si-fi, so Nicky’s. Nile would like to think the Russia books are Andy's but on flicking through them reveals they are textbooks, with notes in Italian and French.  
“Even the textbooks?”  
“Don’t let Nicky or Booker hear you ever talk about throwing away books.” Andy informs her from the sofa, where she is watching TV. Nile places the textbooks into the box.

Nile hears the washing machine bleep and Nicky moving about as he empties and refills the machine. He pops his head into the sitting room, “I am going to the roof. Do we need more boxes?”  
“Definitely.” Joe looks up from the items he is going through.  
“I will see what else I can find.”  
“Nicky.” Andy calls, Nicky looks over to her. “I’ll go look, you come back down.” Andy heaves herself up and they leave together.

Nicky comes back into the apartment as Nile is looking at the snipers rifle in its box. He comes to a standstill over the washing.  
“Washing, dispose and” Nicky prods the pile with his foot. “Booker?”  
“Yes”  
Nicky dumps the washing pile into the basket, taking it to the cleaning cupboard, returning with a bin bag. The other two piles go into the bin bag, which is tied up and placed by the door, next to the cutlery drawer.  
“What have you got there, My love.”  
“These are the drawers from Booker's desk, it’s all the forgery equipment, I have no clue about any of it.”  
Nile comes over to have a look, it’s very different for Yannick basement, “Is that money?”  
“Yes, all fake and no longer in circulation, Deutschmarks, Italian Lira, French Francs and Spanish peseta.”  
“Bin?”  
Joe and Nicky look at each other, Nile can not work out the conversation between them, Nicky turns to leave the room, “Yes, there is no point in keeping it.” Joe turns to look at her. Nicky hands her the bin bag, Nile dumps the fake money into the bag, But she takes one note of each type out to keep in a pile. “I feel that we should keep some of his work, I mean it's a bit like art.” Nile tells the questioning looks. She doesn’t bother to decipher the conversation that passes between the two of them.  
Joe leans back in his chair with a sigh. “I say we box this lot up and let Booker sort it all out, I have no clue if he still needs any of it.”  
“Post it to Copley.” Nile tells them as the idea comes to her, it is clear that Nicky does not want anything to do with Booker, also this way of messing with Copley might appeal to Nicky, who trolls people with religious paintings. “These things of Booker's we can’t or don’t know how to use, we box them up and post them to Copley, he can look after them. He likes documenting what we do.”  
Joe lets out a deep laugh, a smile is waring with questions on Nicky’s face.  
“He knows we have been to the safe house, we hire a van, load everything up, drive to say Zurich, post a parcel in like Marseille, Turin and Milan, Hire a storage locker in Bern, leave almost everything there and drop the van off in Zurich. Then go on to say Poland to look for safe houses. I mean we are not coming back here.”  
“It’s a solid plan Nile.” Andy tells her, startling everyone, much to her amusement. “A week of easy traveling, then we can find somewhere for a base for a month, get some training done, set ourselves up as a group, find a decent safe house in Europe.”  
“We will buy some post boxes tomorrow.” Nicky picks up a drawer and places onto the safe house table. Nile looks around at the room, it is neater than before, most of the furniture is neatly stacked by the wall so there is some space for them to move around the room. The umbrella stand is full of weapons again, the weapon cases lined up along the wall by the dining table, Nile has looked at most of them, two high end sniper rifles, a rifle, a modern recurve bow and modern compact crossbow, another case has ornate flintlock pistols in it, shotguns of different gauges and a case of different ammo's. There are still some gaps to stack all the boxes they have filled, they can manage this, it is not as bad as she thought. One of the inlaid chests catches her eye. Nile lifts the chest onto the table it's up. Inside is a stringed instrument with keys on the fret board and a musical bow next to it.  
“What is this? it looks like a mutant violin.”  
“It is a nyckelharpa, a type of fiddle, it's Nicky” says Joe, “The bow is used to play the strings and then the keys do the chords”  
Nile gingerly takes the instruments and bow from is the case, it looks very beautifully made, with patterns on the body, delicate and fragile but is heavier a solid piece of wood, it has been kept in good condition, the wood has been oiled, the string tight. Nicky has taken a seat at the table, the drawers all moved away, he pulls the instrument toward himself once it is on the table, picking out a few notes. Nile looks at what else is in the chest, tucked in the side is a cloth bound book. Nile has the book open before Joe realizes she's got it, his face grimacing as Nile looks at the pages. On first page a picture of a woman, Claudette written at the bottom, next page is a picture of young man, labeled Rene he looks an awful lot like Booker, the same as the man on the next page labeled Benoit and just as she expect is JeanPierre, who looks the most like Claudette.  
“Booker's wife and children if you hadn't guessed.” Joe sounds a bit embarrassed.  
“Your work?” Nile checks  
“Yes, from sketches when we brought Booker back from the front and times we had to collect Booker for jobs or for his skills.”  
The next few pages have pictures of young men named, Sebastian, Claude and Jean Luc and females called Marie and Lynette.  
“Booker’s Grandchildren, I am afraid we lost track of them.” Nicky does sound upset at this. “This is my master copy. All the copies I have given Booker over the years, have been burned by him when he was very drunk.”  
“We had hope one day, that he would be happy to see their faces again.” Nicky tells her.  
“Do you have a similar book with pictures of Asia and your children.” Nile asks Joe hopefully.  
Joe shakes his head “I had not started drawing people then and by the time I was, their faces have faded from my mind. It is why I keep these for Booker, I would give much to have such a thing, now.”  
Nile walks around the table to hug Joe, Joe curls willingly into her arms, she feels Nicky’s hand warm on her back. After a few minutes Joe pulls away, Nile releases him, squeezing Nicky’s hand as she passes back to her previous place. Nile looks back in the chest, there are three silk robes or tunic’s, Joe reacts across the table to put a hand over the top of the chest. “Perhaps it will be best to leave that in there.”  
“It is Quyhn’s tunics and hair combs, Boss.” Nicky voice is tight with emotion. Nile looks to Andy.  
“Let her look.” Andy walks away toward the sofa. Nile gently takes each tunic out, below is an open engraved box filled with hair combs, some simple wood, others made of different metals, some have shapes carved on top or enameled patterns and designs. Next to the box are some leather and cloth belts and a pair of sheath knives, there is something underneath the box. Nile removes items as Andy comes back to the table carrying a bottle of wine, taking a healthy swig of the wine, Andy runs her other hand over the tunics and combs. Under the box is a black and white cameo locket, Andy takes it from Nile's hand, opening it up, inside behind glass is black hair.  
“We took it from all the hair combs.” Nicky explains, Andy nods, closing the locket and pocketing it.  
Nile takes the last item out, it is a leather bound folder, inside are pictures of an Asian woman, Nile guess this must be Quyhn in a range of art styles and mediums. Andy walks away again.  
“She is beautiful, passionate, full of life when you draw her Joe. “ Nile says, looking at the artworks, Nile carefully closes the folder and places it into the chest, returning the other items in order, Nicky keeps hold of the Nyckelharpa and bow. Morbid curiosity makes Nile pick up the other, smaller chest and open it. There are three boxes stacked on top of each other, the smallest one has two different wooden colored checkerboards top and bottom, one is a chess board with white and black inlays, which are stone when Nile runs her hand over them, the third has a black inlaid grid of many small squares. The wooden box when opened becomes a chessboard, inside are wooden chess pieces in matching colors. The drawer in the inlay board has chess pieces in stone but there are elephants instead of rooks.  
The third has two drawers, one for white stones and one for black.  
“It’s a go set, like chess but from China.” Nicky informs her.  
The bottom of the chest has packets of cards and bags of dice, Nille puts everything away.  
By the time she is done Nicky has made his way into the kitchen.  
“TV?” Joe suggests, rising from the table.  
Nile looks at the two rolls of leather and the items she did not identify when they were brought out of the car. “What is in the rolls of leather?”  
“Knives and small blades.” Joe collects both rolls and places them on the table, “they don’t belong to anyone, we all appreciate a good knife.” Joe unrolls one of the rolls, there are about twenty knives, some around the size of a k-bar knife, other’s much smaller. All are well made, some have sheaths, some are plain, others have decorated hilts and sheaths, one has patterns in the blade, Nile aches to touch them all.  
“Boss, you should see the glint in her eyes, it’s like a feast before the starving. She does not know where to start.” Joe voices holds teasing and prideful notes.  
“She is good with them.” Andy looks over the back or the sofa, “She has already stabbed me and cut Nicky, It’s your turn next.”  
Joe laughs, “My little river goddess has claws.”  
Nile feels her face heat with the praise, Joe unroll the other roll with a flourish like a merchant showing his best wears. The roll has two sets of small throwing knives, curved knives, two have no guards, a balisong, a thin pointed blade without a guard and one with a large guard. Again they are all well made, cared for and decorated.  
“These are not plain daggers like the others.” Nile gives into the urge to touch.  
“That is a Karambit,” Joe points to one of the curved blades, “That is a Kukri.” This knife has a bend in the blade. “That is a keris.” That blade is like a wobbly line when Nile takes it out of the sheath. “That is a Misericorde” That the pointed guard-less blade, Joe stops Nile from touching it, “It is used to dispatch the morally wounded, let us not tempt its use.” Nile moves to the other pointed knife, “A Stiletto knife, then there are the throwing knives and Nicky’s Genoese knife, they are very illegal because the Genoese like to stab each other.” Nile smiles, “or something, there was a decree, Nicky was most upset and had much to say on the whole issue.”  
“Nicky kept that knife on him for centuries as a protest, like anyone outside La Superba cared.” Andy has wandered over again, still clutching the wine bottle. “We, Nicky will teach you to use them all.”  
“That would be nice.” Nile puts back the throwing knife she had been holding, taking one of the other set.  
Andy snorts, making Nile look at her. “She will be magnificent once trained.” Nile is not sure what Andy and Joe are smiling about, Nile puts the knife back and starts to roll the leather up. Joe rolls up the other roll, while Nile does up the ties of the first, when Joe has done his ties up he takse both rolls back to the safehouse table, Nile follows him over.  
“What’s that?” Nile points to a bamboo pole with a pattern of canes at one end, like a tree a child would draw.  
“It’s a carpet beater, to clean the rugs.”  
“And that.” It’s a metal frame with two stone rollers.  
“It’s a mangle to squeeze the water out of washing.”  
“Do we need either of them?”  
“Let’s see what the new safe house has before we get rid of things that work.”  
“Okay.”  
Joe steers Nile to ward the sofa, he looks tired as he takes a seat in the armchair closest to where Nile is sitting. Andy is sat at the other end, bottle of wine pressed to her chest, bare feet on the sofa, Nile notices how neat and well kept her toenails are as Andy kicks the TV remote toward her. The silence has an awkward air to it, like no one is sure of what to say, as Nile flicks through the TV channels, Andy reaches into her pocket and stretches her foot out to prod Nile. Andy catches Nile gaze and she flicks her eyes to Joe, the TV is showing Football results from a number of leagues and Joe interest has been captured. Nile looks back to Andy and rolls her eyes in a typical man gesture, Andy raises her lip in a half smile.  
As soon as the commentator has done the Ligue, Andy states “PSG suck.”  
“Yup” Joe does not look over watching the results of the Bunderesliga.  
“So does Borussia Dortmund.”  
Joe gives Andy the middle finger, “Not as bad as Bayern Munich.”  
“The only team that sucks more than Bayern is Man U.”  
“True.”  
“PSG is Booker’s team?”  
“Yep, it is why we hate them.” Joe turns back from the TV as the adverts come on. “It’s the rules.”  
“Because of what Booker did?” Nile can see Nicky having hate for Paris and everything in it because of Booker and no other reason, although he does seem to have a basic dislike of all things French on some principle anyway. It seems a bit extreme for Andy and Joe.  
“Do you follow any sports, Nile?”  
“Not really, I played soccer, football as a little kid at school, the same with baseball and basketball, but I don’t follow any teams.”  
Andy presses her foot into Nile’s hip until Nile looks at her, wrapping her hand around Andy’s ankle, Andy’s leg goes limp and she does not pull away, Nile strokes her thumb back and forth.  
“Being at the games is fun, the energy like gladiatorial matches or the chariot races, they were fun. Joe, you should take her to a game.” Andy perks up as she speaks.  
“Not today and not here, I don’t want Valencia to be her team, we should go to an international game, they are very good. Oh Nile, yes we will take you to the world cup and the Olympics, Rio was so much fun.”  
“Yes, we will do that. It does not matter if you do not care for football, Nicky thinks it a stupid game but he is a die hard Italia fan come the world cup.”  
“It did give a certain something to the Italy-France game.”  
“Who is your team Joe? If PSG and France are Booker's.”  
“Borussia Dortmund for the team game, World Cup and Africa Cup Morocco, The Euros, The Netherlands, got to have a team. Booker has Senegal for the Africa Cup, Nicky Ethiopia, he does not have a club team, even when Booker and I said he could have AC Milan.”  
“Probably because you said he could have Milan.” Andy points out, Joe shrugs. “Ajax, are my team, Greece for the World cup and Euros, South Africa for the Africa Cup.”  
“We will have to get into the Copa America.” Joe says with some glee.  
“Let’s get her into the World cup first.”  
“Oh you will enjoy being at a World Cup Nile, after the Olympics, it’s a fun statement of national pride and sporting achievement.” Nicky says as he puts a tray of bread, cheese and jellies down onto the table. He hands each of them a coffee before sitting next to Joe, they should not both fit on the armchair but they make it work and neither of them complain.  
“Nicky will try and tell you the winter Olympics are as good as the summer one, he is wrong.”  
Joe starts to defend Nicky, Nile can see him trying to come up with an argument, when he must agree with her on some level, “The winter sports are practical, you can still see why they are skills people should have, in countries with snow.”  
“Even the death sledge?” Andy teases.  
“Well..” Joe starts.  
“That’s just fun.” Nicky interrupts.  
Joe shoots him a look of horror. “Fun! Head first, face down on what is little more then a tea-tray on skates at 100km an hour! That is fun?”  
“Yes.” Nicky says all innocently.  
“It sounds like it might be.” Nile says, Andy just laughs and Joe mutters something that sounds quite upset that makes Nicky laugh.  
“We will do a couple of runs, skeleton and luge, it’s lot’s of fun, your skill against the track. We can even go to St Moriz and do the Crestra run, I bet I could bet my best time.”  
“No Nicky, not this insanity again, teach her biathlon.” Joe begs.  
“Or the jumping.” Andy says still chuckling  
“No, not the jumping, Nile you do not want to do that either.” Joe looks at her pleadingly.  
“They have larger ski jumps called ski flying these days.” Nicky happily informs the others.  
“No, Nicky, No.” Joe begs.  
“You bake more bread Nicky?” Andy changes the subject with no tact before a real argument can start.  
“I am teaching Nile how to make bread.” Nicky informs her.  
“Did your Mother not teach you?” Andy sounds confused.  
“No she did not.” Nile refuses to laugh even if Andy sounds just like the guys did.  
“Did she know you would be a warrior so young?”  
“No, she did not make bread herself.”  
“I thought modern houses had kitchens, an oven.” Andy directs this at Nicky.  
“They do, but apparently modern wives and mothers do not make bread they buy it.” Nicky explains as if Nile hadn’t explained it to him.  
“Booker’s wife made bread.” Andy points outs and Nile can’t help the laugh that escapes, Andy’s foot digs into Nile’s hip.  
“I had the same conversation with the guys the other day, almost word for word.” Nile tells her.  
“Booker’s wife was 200 years ago, the world has changed a lot.” Nicky adds.  
Andy gingerly eats the bread she has picked up, “It’s not bad, Nile.” Andy says after she swallows the rest of them take this as a que to start eating.

“I take it the Ice skates are Nicky’s?” Nile asks once all the food has been eaten. and they are relaxing with their coffees, Andy’s bottle of wine sealed again on the coffee table.  
“Yes, I kept them in Goussainville as it is nearest to where the ice is, the same with the Alpha safe house. I keep a lot of cross country ski stuff at alpha too.”  
“The others don’t ice skate?”  
“Nicky used to drag Booker but I don’t care for it.”  
“You are not good at it, My love, for some reason your balance fails you.”  
“Do you skate, Nile?” Andy wiggles her foot against Nile's leg, until Nile wraps her hands around the ankle again.  
“I have been a few times, my Dad would take me to the roller rink mostly but around Christmas time we would go ice skating. I can go all the way around the rink without stopping and holding on from the start my brother always took a while to get his legs. I can do some spins too, on both skates. Well I could when I was ten.”  
“Better than Joe.” Andy teases.  
“I like that he has to hold on to me.” Nicky says as Joe turns red and hides his face behind Nicky’s arm.  
“The roller skates yours too, Nicky?” Nile asks before they get too caught up in teasing Joe.  
“Yes, the boots will not fit you but the one the go over shoes should fit, they are adjustable. If you wish to go roller skating.”  
“The skateboard?”  
Nicky looks embarrassed, “We scared off some children when we returned to Gouessenville once and it was dropped. We claimed it.”  
“Spoils of war.” Andy tells Nile with a smile.  
“We have all had a go on it.” Nicky continues. “None of us are very good. Most of us have trouble stopping.”  
“Some have trouble starting.” Andy looks at Joe.  
“There are skate parks in the Turia park, I could teach you some moves.” Nile offers. “Or to stop.”  
“Today?” Nicky clarifies.  
“We could if nothing else is planned for this afternoon. Joe said you want to go hiking tomorrow, but we could do it tomorrow or whenever you want.” Nile tries to make it not sound like an order or a command. “Any of you.”  
Nicky has a thinking face as he pulls Joe’s arm tighter around himself, Joe fusses with Nicky’s hair, before looking at Nile, “Paintball, Nile, Tell them about paintball.”  
“It’s an activity where you wear combat gear and have a gun, but the gun fire’s little balls of paint with compressed air instead of bullets with gunpowder. You get bruises sometime but nothing worse. I thought it might be good for training. Or air soft, which just shoots pellets at you not paint. Laser tag might be fun but I think maybe too childish for us. Laser tag the guns shoot light that is picked up by your chest plate. Lots of teenage boys play it for birthday parties. My brother must have gone once a month minimum between 13 and 15.  
I went paint balling with Dizzy on a weekend leave, it was fun.”  
“When did you and Joe talk about this.” Andy ass looking between them.  
“When we went to get cake.” Nile says cheerfully .  
Andy snots and shakes her head. “Any other plans for our training?”  
“Boss.” Joe warns. Andy glares at him, the sighs, stretching out her other leg and forcing both on to Nile lap, Andy wiggles her toes until Nile takes them in her hands, pushing her thumbs in to the soles, Andy smiles at her, “Do you have any other suggestions or ideas, going forward.” it sounds so forced and fake coming out of Andy’s mouth the Nile struggles not to laugh, the guys on the other hand do not.  
“Yes, I understand pod people Andy now.”  
“This was your idea Nicolo.” Andy spits at him.  
“I know you are trying Andy and I am grateful. It’s just a shock to me and I have only known you two weeks and they guys have known you much longer. Nicky is happy you listen to his comments and are acting on them.” Nile diplomatically tries to unruffle Andy’s feathers and smooth over the sharp edges of things that are still there between them, she does not stop massaging Andy’s feet.  
“Your child has so many of your best qualities.” Andy tells the guys.  
“She is not our child.” Nicky snaps.  
“Boss, please stop.” Joe pleads.  
Nile starts to move to whisper something to Andy then stops, this lot have no secrets between them. “It upsets Nicky, to talk of children. He can’t give Joe that, and her in her city, when she could, it’s somehow worse.”  
Andy looks at Nicky, tucked into Joe’s arms. “You know that’s stupid right?”  
“Yes, but I still feel that way. If she is anyone of our descendants it’s Booker's, four of his grandchildren went to America. It has been far too many generations for either of us to climb the bloodline to her.”  
Andy gives Nile a hard look, “I see nothing in her that could be Booker’s, only you two. She can be a favored niece Nicky, your sisters had enough children.”  
“That they did, but not a daughter, please Andy.” Nicky sounds weary.  
“For a scholar you think many stupid things.” Andy is clearly frustrated with having to give up this line of annoying the guys.  
“Blame my childhood that filled my head with wrong ideas.”  
Andy snorts and turns back to Nile, digging a heel into Nile’s stomach, “Ideas, kid.”  
Nile jabs a nail into Andy’s foot in response. “Booker did explosives, so someone has to do that.” Nile sticks a finger on her nose “bagsy not it.” Nile puts her hand down seeing Nicky try to do the same thing as Joe tries to capture his hands. “Then if I'm going to be the driver then I want to learn to drive, advanced driving courses and skid courses, on snow and ice and all that, with cars and motorbikes and to drive trucks and tankers and big things like that. I was down to do a scuba course ‘cos you know a marine, so I still want to learn that.” Nile shrugs “you keep telling me I have time, so there are things I have always wanted to try, rock climbing and jet skiing and wind surfing, surfing, kayaking, paragliding, parachuting, the stuff Nicky mentioned sounded fun, skiing.” Nile pauses and twists to look at the Nickelharpe still on the table, “Hey, could I learn to play an instrument, I mean not that, that’s Nicky’s thing but like the piano or violin or something?”  
Andy’s grin runs from ear to ear.  
“She is full of life.” Nicky says with pride. “So joyous.”  
“Like Joe.” Andy mutters, low so only Nile hears.  
“Wanting to push herself and learn new things.” Joe sings Nile praise too.  
“Like Nicky.” Andy mutters again and Nile sticks her nail in Andy’s foot again. Andy laughs.  
“Oh spelunking.” Nile says out of nowhere silencing the others.  
“What is spelunking?” Joe finally ventured with some hesitation.  
“Exploring cave systems, once you know how to rock climb and scuba dive, you can learn to explore caves and go cave diving and all that.”  
Nicky looks very interested in what Nile is talking about, Joe looks disgusted, “Why would you do that?”  
“To explore, to be the first person to see something, to test yourself.” Nicky tells him as Nile nods in agreement. Andy starts laughing, words in a language Nile does not know are forced out every so often, Nile looks to the guys for translation but they shake their heads, Andy ends up curled in a ball gasping for breath.  
“What is for Sunday dinner?” Nile asks Nicky while they wait for Andy to recover.  
“Beef in pastry, chipped parsnips and sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower gratin.” Nicky tells her.  
“Beef wellington?” Andy asks hopefully.  
“With all the changes I have made I can hardly call it that, but yes, in essence.”  
“Did you know I would be back?”  
“No, if you came back before you could eat with us or have left overs if not.”  
“Sorry, Nicolo, I will not do it again.” Andy sounds contrite.  
Nicky nods and takes a depth breath. “Joe and I are going to bed for a time, if you will excuse us.”  
“Nile and I will go out, she can teach me to stop and turn the skateboard, so i’ll be better at you then you.”  
Nile gets up grabbing the skateboard and the overshoe roller skates, “Andy and I are going, now, lock up behind us, we will be back after two hours.” She looks at Nicky, “is two hours long enough?” Joe raises three fingers.  
Andy laughs, “You talk a big game but three hours? I don’t think so.”  
“Some of us enjoy foreplay and the afterglow, Andy, it’s not all about the sex itself.” Joe points out, Nicky blushes, “If Joe wants three hours”  
“Cool, we will see you in three hours, can you put me bedding back on my bed.” Nile is already putting her shoes on. Nicky stops on the way to the apartment door, Andy almost running into him, “You do not wish to spend the night with us?” This has him faulting, not the group splitting up, not leaving the two of them vulnerable in the apartment, not Andy doing something risky, Nile not sharing the sleeping space.  
Nile crosses to him, resting her hand s on his shoulders, “No Nicky, I just don’t want my bedding to smell of you and Joe’s sex times and the two of you seem like you’ll be energetic and not care about my stuff.”  
Joe laughs, Nicky blushes, “Yes, it is for the best. We will open the window to clear the air.”  
Andy opens the door, “Nile, come on, we are wasting light.”  
Nicky rolls his eyes at Andy, Nile has to school her face from her grin as turns around, “Coming Andy.” Nile picks the skateboard and skates backup and follows Andy out. Nicky closes the door behind them and then Nile hears the chair being shoved under the handle.

Once Nile and Andy are on the street, Nile puts the skateboard down and pushes off, the second time she stops at the curb to check for cars before crossing, Andy threatens to push her over for showing off. Nile offers to show her to do it, Andy agrees once they have turned on to the boulevard along Turia park. Andy balances well on the skateboard but when Nile has her kick off, the push is too small and Andy wobbles. Nile has her do a bigger push and then has to run after Andy as she speeds away, grabbing Andy before she rides out into traffic at the next junction. Nile explains how to slow down by leaning onto her back foot, then using kick off foot to break on the ground. Andy has a couple of goes back and forth in front of Nile as she puts on the skates. Nile and Andy ride slowly gaining confidence as they come towards the ramp down to the skate park. Andy stops hesitating as Nile shoots down the ramp whooping. Nile has burnt off her speed and returns to the ramp by that time Andy walks down. Andy sets the skateboard down and they head to the skatepark, Nile explains how to turn by angling and shifting weight on the back foot. Andy practices her turns and speed as Nile skates about, moving on from the slopes to trying jumps over the back edges. There is no half-pipe or rails, but it’s a good place to learn the basics and the other people, children and young teens mostly are not much better than Nile or Andy. Nile skates around to see a young girl taking Andy through something. On the next loop Nile see Andy try an Ollie, she does not manage it but does not fall, the little girl does fall but gets right back up and they both try again. A little while later Nile skates up to Andy sat on a bench, the little girl is sat next to her.  
“Is she your friend?” the little girl asks Andy in Spanish.  
“Yes, this is Nina.”  
“Hello.” Nile waves.  
“Andrea, fell and has a cut. Mum says you should not leave people alone if they are hurt.” The girl says solemnly.  
“Show me Andrea.” Nile tells Andy, trying no to smile. Andy has a graze down one arm, it looks bad, it’s not deep and has stopped bleeding and will mostly likely hurt worse when Nicky fusses and cleans it. “Nicky going to be upset with you.”  
“You think we can hide it from him?” Andy asks.  
“I think that might be worse.”  
“Is Nicky your Dad, My dad hates it when I get hurt.” the little girl asks.  
“No he is just my brother, he worries.” Andy tells her.  
“Brothers are the worst.” the girl nods. “If you are here now Nina, can I go skate?”  
“Yes, thank you for your help.” Nile puts her hand for a fist bump which the girl gives.  
“Bye Andrea.” the girl waves as she leaves them, Nile sits down next to Andy, suppressing a grin, the girl heads back to the skate park but keeps looking back over to them. Nile switches back to English. “Want to come back in twelve years and rock her world?”  
Andy goes red and shoves Nile “Shut up.”  
“But she loves you.” Nile cackles.  
“I am irresistible.” Andy laughs still red. They keep catching each other’s eyes and laughing for the next few minutes.  
“Want to have a go with the skates.”  
“No one injury is enough, today.” Andy smiles, she points to the bar, “Beer?”  
“Yes, why not. We have time before we have to go back.”

Nile tells Andy that the guys claim she rode a giraffe, Nile times it right so the beer is snorted out of Andy’s nose. Andy, once she has recovered, writes ‘douze points’ on a napkin in split beer, giving it to Nile. Nile keeps that napkin separate as she mops up the rest of the mess. Andy’s version of the story has a lot less headbutting and kicks, more stalking and planning. Ultimately Andy admits that giraffes are no good to ride on. Second beer in Andy starts talking about horses, the feel of them, the care of them, their personalities, by the third beer, Nile can tell Andy is a little tipsy, the odd word is not in English and some of the things Andy saying border on religion, there is a lot of talk about essences and spirits. Nile makes it clear they should be getting back, taking off the roller skates, the sandy paths are not the best to skate on. Nile leads Andy past the Softball pitch and one of the football pitches down the middle of the park, cutting back to the wall after the next bridge the two of them climb a set of stairs almost hidden in the wall. Back a stone pavement Nile puts the skateboard down and rolls next to Andy.  
Joe and Nicky are sat on the bench by their bridge, opposite the zebra crossing.  
“There you are!” Joe shouts when he sees them, Nicky looks up from where he has head tucked under his arms Joe’s hand pressed to the back of his neck. Nile checks her watch, they are ten minutes late. Andy's mouth is pinched tight, as they wait to cross the road. “He’s going to be very clingy. You think we are pushing him too hard?”  
“I think he has been through a lot today and we are late. Joe does not look angry or panicked, Nicky can’t be that bad.”  
Nile rolls to a stop in front of Nicky, running her hand across his head. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Andy show Joe her arm, washed under one of the drinking water fountains found in the park, it does not look as bad as when Nile first saw it. Nicky surges up to give her a hug.  
“How long did you wait until you left the apartment?” Nile asks once he loosens his hold.  
“Three minutes.”  
“Sorry to worry you, Andy got talking about horses and I did not want to interrupt.”  
“It is a subject she can talk about for hours.” Nicky agrees with a shy smile.  
Nile pulls free and picks up the skateboard, as Andy squeezes Nicky’ neck, “Come on let's get back, I’ve worked up an appetite, mastering this skateboard.”  
Nile sticks out her arm for Nicky to take, which he does, Nile indicating they should cross the road as the light is green, she can feel Andy and Joe fall in behind them.  
“I do not believe you have mastered the skateboard Boss, I only see Nile’s mastery.” Joe taunts as they cross the road. Nile loosens her grip on the board before Andy tugs it from her hand. Andy shoots off ahead of them, turns the board in a circle before the next road crossing and comes back to the three of them before stopping, flipping the skateboard up into her hand.  
“Show-off.” Nile can hear the smile on Joe’s face.  
“Demonstrating my new skills.”  
“Andy has picked up the basics quickly, has she not, Nile.” Nicky prompts.  
“Yes, Andy has mastered the basics and has learnt how to do an ollie, well done.” Nile praises Andy, watching her glow. Nile feels guilty, yes, it is just the most basic of skills that most kids Nile knew, knows, but it’s new to them and they praise Nile for picking up the most basic of their skills so she is being mean not doing the same.  
“What is an ollie?” Joe asks. Andy launches into an explanation of the trick, that lasts to the apartment.

Andy shows Nicky her arm once they get into the apartment, to get it over and down with. Nicky fusses cleaning her arm with antiseptic which Andy hisses at, Nicky declares it does not need a plaster or a bandage or stitches and gives Andy some more ibuprofen.  
“Do you want us in the kitchen as you cook Nicky?” Nile asks once he has finished with Andy.  
“No I just need to put things in the oven at times, everything is prepared.”  
“Well go do that, I am hungry.” Andy shoos him off.  
Nicky is in and out of the kitchen in seconds, “The oven is on, I’ll put the first bit in the oven when it is warm.”  
Andy grumbles something about letting hearths go out, as she sits in her arm chair, Nicky ignores her running his fingers over the strings of the nyckelharpa.  
“Would it bring up bad memories if I asked you to play something?” Nile asks hesitantly.  
“No bad memories. Nile. Just it is not a modern sound, very baroque.” Nicky explains and Nile wants to punch Booker again, they are too in this to see how he has been taking things away from Nicky and Joe to make them as miserable as he was.  
“Nicky I don’t know what baroque music sounds like, it’s all classical to me and I only know like ten bits, pieces, whatever.”  
“Which pieces?” Nicky raises his head to look at her, full of interest.  
Nile, put on the spot, tries to think of the names, “The Marine's hymn, Semper Fidelis March, The Valerkies one, um” Nile runs out of names but she knows the tunes, “The one that goes, da-len, da-len,da-len, da-len,da-len,da-len, da-len,da-len, da-len,da-len, da-len,da-len, da-larrrrrrrrrr, ,da-len, da-len, the one with cannons at the end, the bee one on the violin, the one they use for explosion in films it goes da - da, da - da, da - da, daaaa de da, the one call cannon that’s really slow, the waltz, the one sad on strings, adadgoe?”  
Nile can not tell is Nicky is smiling or grimacing as he has his head down “The two marine corps songs, the flight of the Valerkies, William Tell overture, the 1812 overture, the fight of the bumblebee, Ode to joy, Pacobell’s canon, i am guessing one of the Strauss waltzes and Adagio for strings.”  
“Yes,” Nile has heard all those names, so she thinks it’s correct.  
“I am taking you to the Opera Nile, you need to see Carmen and Der Flédermaus.” Andy orders, “Joe is the Rue guy still alive and performing, she needs to see that.”  
“Andre Rue, yes, I took Nicky last year.” Joe voice soft with the memory, Nile watches the warm look transform Nicky's face as he looks past Nile to Joe.  
“Should one of you planners not be making a list of all the things we have to do?” Andy asks, looking more at Nicky than Nile.  
“Tomorrow, we will plan the new route and a list of things to do, training and education. I think we may move on the day after, I know we are meant to contact Copley but I would be happier if we did it somewhere else, even it it’s just up the road to Barcelona. We can stay in a hotel and use another to contact Copley. Or the airport.” Nicky stands when he has finished speaking to head to the kitchen.  
“Good to know you are not neglecting your dues.” Andy calls after him. “Nile come sit.” Andy Pats the arm of the sofa. Nicky follows Nile back to the sofa bringing the nyckelharpa with him, he sits on the arm closest to Joe. “It’s been a while. Sorry in advance for the errors.”  
Nicky plays a piece that songs like it should be played by dwarves from ‘lord of the rings’. The next song is more dance-y folk, as is the one after that. Joe and Andy seem to know the songs , Andy is humming a tune to the third. Nicky goes to do something in the kitchen, coming back to play a waltz-dance sounding pieces. Joe pulls Nile off the sofa to dance, as Andy claps out a beat for the next song. The dance is unlike anything Nile knows the steps to and she just copies Joe and lets him pull and push her in the spaces she is meant to be in. Nicky takes pity on Nile and changes to the waltz that Nile knows, although Nile messes that up badly enough, by putting her hands in the wrong place and getting so tangled up with Joe that Nicky stops playing to laugh.  
“One of you has to lead.” Andy snaps. Nile watches Joe as ducks his head hiding behind his hair.  
“Nile will, Joe follows.” Nicky’s states clearly, Andy looks at him, “Always?”,  
Nicky does not back down, staring Andy down, “In this yes.”, Andy shakes her head, and walks over to Nile to put her hands and arm in the right place. It takes three starts to get the steps right but soon Nile and Joe are shuffling around the room, not enough space to move freely. Nicky plays a couple more songs, dances for Nile and Joe and then Andy and Nile to fumble through, before telling them all to get the table ready for dinner.

Dinner is delicious as always and this must be one of Andy's favorites as she starts on seconds when the rest of them are on first. Then again, Nile thinks, she only took one meal and has been gone for nearly two days.  
“Did you eat anything besides fish and rice, while you were gone?” Nile asks when Andy finally looks up from her food.  
“There was some rations at the safe-house, those bar things and some cheese.” Andy waves her fork dismissively. Nicky looks about to speak, Andy interrupts him with, “I took my pills like a good little mortal.” before she turns back to her food, Nicky deflates giving up on that argument before it can begin.  
“Can you play any outer instruments, Nicky?” Nile changes the subject.  
“I learnt the fiddle as a child, then the hurdy-gurdy when that became fashionable, it picked up the nyckelharpa when we were in Scandinavia in the late 1400’s.”  
“Nicky likes all things Scandinavian.” Andy teases.  
Nicky goes red cheeked with embarrassment as Joe laughs, “He thinks it is exotic.”  
Nicky flicks his fork at Nile. “I do not like everything about Scandinavia, most of the churches are boring and I do not like the modern conformity and much of the food, whilst hearty is plain. It is very different from the Mediterranean where I was born, from the arab influenced world where Joe and I spend so much of our lives, the Christianity is not based in Catholicism, or was influenced by the Romans or Greeks, so the whole culture is different. The winter is long and cold but embraced not suffered through. While in distance it is closer to Genoa than say Indonesia, in every other way, family, religion, festivals, food it is farther away. Everything there is different. So yes I find it exotic.”  
“It is cold and dark.” Joe fakes a shiver.  
“It is a beautiful landscape and the Northern lights are very impressive.”  
“I will give you the Northern lights.” Joe winks at Nicky.  
“I like the sagas.” Andy tells Nile, “Joe had a five or six memorized, once. Between the sagas, the poetry and music, Joe and Nicky always made sure room for the night in any place with people.”  
“Because you didn’t have correct money?” Nile asks.  
“Or we had no money or did not want to seem rich and get robbed or it was a good cover for wandering about or getting the feel of a place or Joe needing to be around people.” Andy leans back and rubs her belly in the way of contently full Dad’s everywhere. “That was delicious Nicky.”  
“That you Andy. Did you leave room for desert?”  
“Always.” Andy smiles at him, Nicky gives a half smile at her, leaning back as he waits for Joe and Nile to finish eating.  
“Thank you Nicky, that was yummy. “ Nile says as she pushes her empty place away. Joe rests his head on Nicky’s shoulder, rubbing back and forth until Nicky kisses him. Nile starts collecting the empty plates, “Are the leftovers okay to be put in the fridge, Nicky?”  
“Leave them on the side, I will deal with it later.”  
“I can,” Nile stops, “Okay Nicky. I am going to wash everything up before desert, give dinner time to settle.”  
Joe follows Nile into the kitchen as Nile runs the water, “I am sorry we panicked Nicky earlier.”  
“We were pushing it, Nicky was testing himself.”  
“No sex then?”  
Joe shrugs “I got oral sex and a lot of kissing and contact. Nicky must have sucked his whole name across my chest.” Joe smiles and plays with his wedding ring. “It not about sex, it’s about connecting, confirming to Nicky that I am his. We talked, he.” Joe looks to the door, “Booker's betrayal it has really upset him and you scare him.”  
“Me?”  
“You being here for him to focus on, he needs you and that scares him and he thinks him needing you is going to chase you off.”  
“Chase me off to where?” She hands Joe a tea towel. “I need you guys, this is scary what happen to me. This new life for me. Nicky has done nothing to chase me off. I don’t think Nicky is too much. I would be so alone if it was not for you two. Don’t get me wrong, Andy’s great but she is not good at emotional support.”  
“I told Nicky this.”  
Nile has a thought that chills her to the core, “He not going to suggest that we split up or something stupid like that.” Nile words are rushed and she must sound scared as Joe is hugging her before she has finished speaking.  
“No, we are sticking together for the next few years. Andy and I will sit in the bar by the fire drinking hot chocolate and alcohol while you and Nicky do things just this side of deadly, on the snow. Nicky and I will cheer you on as you learn to drive trucks and tankers. Andy will woop with joy as you take corners on two wheels instead of four. We will cover each other with paint and teach you all the rude words. We will show you the beauty of the world.”  
“You will make me cry, Joe.”  
Joe kisses the top of her head. “Nicky knows where he wants you to learn to scuba dive. He has Plans.”  
“Does he?”  
“Yes, he is excited.” Joe pulls away, starting the drying up.  
“But he does not want to overwhelm me or make me feel trapped.”  
“Yes.”  
“I like plans, they make me feel like the world has order.”  
Joe laughs.  
“You heard Andy’s voice too.” Nile smiles to Joe  
“Yes.”  
“She is not going to stop.”  
“Hopefully she will tone it down around Nicky, Booker’s has done so much damage. Nicky is second guessing the last 200 years.” Joe runs his hands through his hair. “We were only in the USA to look for Booker's grandchildren and then the Civil War happened. “ Joe smiles, “Nicky was so happy at the end of slavery. When it finally stuck in his head that My people where People just like his, that’s when he started against slavery.” Joe's smile fades, the glossing over hand gesture cuts under Joe’s words. “Booker did not do well with the civil war, too much like his time with Napoleon. Where was the error in our judgment?”  
“Fuck, that a shit place to be.”  
“Yes, then he worries about you.”  
“I am not going to say I am happy-happy but I am not stuck in the dark like Booker.” Nile squares her shoulders. “It’s an foggy early morning but the sun is rising.”  
Nile can see Joe holding in the laugh. “Shut up.”  
Nile finishes the washing up, putting away what Joe has dried up.  
Nicky knocks on the door frame. “Is it okay for me to get desert? Andy is asking.”  
Joe looks at Nile before turning Nicky, “Of course my all.”  
Nicky takes items out of the fridge as Nile tries to work out what to say to Nicky to relieve his worries, the tension in the room rises. “How long do you think Andy and Joe will let us plan before they get bored and make us do outside stuff.”  
Nicky’s shoulders drop down from where they have moved up. “The length of the time spent or distance to the future?”  
“Time spent.”  
“We will send them out to get post boxes and a van when they get annoying.”  
Joe makes an offended sound and Nicky blindly reaches for him, squeezing the part Joe’s chest that he finds.  
“Joe you know that getting vehicles is your job.” Nile tells him off-handle, still concentrating on Nicky. “We can’t plan too far into the future, Andy is going to get fed-up and a mission or job that we have to do is going to crop up. We can only outline anything between six months and five years out.”  
Nicky gives Nile a half smile as Joe drapes himself over Nicky’s shoulders. Nicky swats his fingers as he tries to steal some food. “I am dishing up Joe, stop it.” Joe grumbles against his neck and Nicky leans into his arms. “Take this in, I am making coffee.”  
Nile follows Joe with two bowls and four spoons.  
Andy clasps Joe hand as he puts a bowl in front of her. “No more heartfelt chats in the kitchen”  
Nile wonders how much Andy and Nicky heard, how worried Nicky was getting. “No promises, Andy.”  
Nicky comes in with the coffee and Nile tucks into her bowl of custard, spiced fruit sauce and cream. They eat in an easy silence until Andy asks “Cards?”  
“Okay.” Nicky agrees.  
Nile clears the table once they have finished eating. Joe has got different sets of cards out of the chest. He picks two packs together. “Romme?”  
“First to 501 losses?”  
Nicky explains the rules to Nile as Joe deals, he gets a pen and paper as Nile studys her cards, this set has hearts, balls, leaves and an odd shape, not the normal symbols, but they seem to just be different shapes not values.  
Andy get caught in the second game with putting any card down, earning her over two points and a lot of swearing at Joe who has an empty hand. Nile had just managed to get 42 points together to put cards down, but she wasn't much better in the last hand, so she is still ahead of Andy in the tally of card points. No else gets caught with a full hand, Nile does not manage to win a game, so she reaches 501 points first.  
They play again, Nile getting down to one or two cards in a couple games, before Nicky puts all his cards down on the first go, laughing as Andy and Joe both call him names, As the three of them score well over 200 points. Andy catches Joe with a full hand, but he had nothing, it does bring him over 400 and seems happy to get rid of that hand. Andy is yawning when Nicky’s win puts Nile and Joe over 501.  
“Right, children I am going to bed.” Andy declares, as she states up she says something to Nicky low and private, Nicky shakes his head, Andy ruffles his hair as she walks off.  
“Hot chocolate and a movie?” Joe asks hopefully  
Nicky nods, the three of them move to the kitchen, Nicky to make hot chocolate, Nile to do the washing up and to mostly hang off Nicky and splash Nile.

They settle on some 1980’s sword fighting movie, badly dubbed into what Nile soon realizes is Valencian not Spanish. Not that it matters the actors don’t look like they learnt their lines, the acting wooden or over the top. Joe and Nicky critique the sword play, clothes and timeline from either side of her on the sofa. The comments get less as the three of them drift off.

The sound of gun fire has Nicky and Nile off the sofa looking for combatants Joe groggily stirring face down on the sofa where he fell as Nile moved. There is a laugh from the TV and some very bad dialogue as Nile And Nicky both twig they fell asleep and the movie has changed. Nile collects the cups and secures the door as Nicky guides a half awake Joe to bed. Nile brushes her teeth, she can hear the guys doing the same in the en-suite. As she is changing in her room, Nile looks at the neat pile of bedding on her bed, it’s not really a choice to pick it all up. Joe is in bed as Nile enters the room, Nicky at the dresser, Nile drops her pillow on the bed and shakes out her duvet, Joe and Nicky’s swords are by the bedside table. Nile flops onto the bed, as Nicky turns off the light, he crawls in next to Joe, fingers just touching Nile's leg, not holding it. Nile sighs in contentment before she falls into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if I get anything massive wrong or offend anyone.  
> If there are any spelling mistakes tell me so I can correct them.


	13. Day Thriteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is a bit emotional today.  
> Everyone has a cry.  
> Everyone has something to say.  
> Then because they are adults, cake for breakfast and Tapas for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all.  
> Thank you to those still reading.  
> I am still writing.  
> Thank from comment and Kudos.  
> It does mean so much to me.

Day Thirteen

Nile fights to get air into her lungs, her wrists and forearms hurt, she is fighting the water and the metal, suddenly the pressure on top of her is gone, duvet pull down to her feet, Nicky kneeling at her side. “Do you need help to breath?”  
Nile shakes her head, slowing her gasps to normal breaths now she is aware of where she is and what is going on. Nicky telegraphs his movements as he takes her hand in both of his, the slight pressure is grounding, Nile uses Nicky to help pull herself up once her breathing is back to normal.  
“Quynh?” Nicky asks  
“She seemed more determined, more focused, her thoughts were clearer.” Nile shivers as her skin crawls with phantom sensations. “I could feel the water and the pressure inside and out and the fish and things against her skin, under her skin.” Nile shakes and runs a hand over her body where the skin itches. Nicky lets her hands go, but Nile can feel his eyes watching her, ready to stop her if she hurts herself.  
“Do you want a shower?”  
“I don’t think i could face the water.”  
“TV?”  
“No, I am restless,” Nile groans in frustration.  
“Come on, we will go for a walk, I’ll wake Andy.” Nicky moves to get off the bed  
“Nicky, I don’t make a fuss with this.”  
Nicky climbs off the bed, he turns back to kiss Nile's forehead. “You need this and we can give it to you, Iet us provide for you.”  
Nile swallows tears, unsettled from Quynns thoughts in her mind, Nicky’s kindness is too much, she gives a shaky nod, not trusting herself to speak and hugs her knees, Nicky pats her head before leaving the room. He comes back with Andy a few minutes later as Nile is still trying to stop crying, to stop itching, not to scream, afraid if she does any of them she wont stop. Andy drops on to the bed, putting in a hand into Joe’s hair when he makes a sound. Nile can feel Andy’s glare, “This a Nicky type episode or just sad?”  
“Not sad, not like me.” Nicky takes Nile's hands in his again, running his thumbs over the backs, his attention solely on Nile. Nile watches Andy huff in frustration, before she nudges Nicky hip with her foot, when he turns to her Andy mouths ‘Booker?’. Nile chokes out a laugh at Andy’s attempt to be subtle at the same time Nicky shrugs. “We do not know if his dreams of Quynh affect him so, if they have changed over the years. Joe and I both dream differently of you and Quynh, the frequency and intensity changed over the years. The same when we dreamed of Booker. You recall that there was over a month where we did not dream of him at all. Our one dream of Nile was different for each of us.”  
“But you are worried.”  
“Always, but not yet concerned, I do not have enough data, If this is one bad night or how things will be.”  
“The other night I could taste salt when I woke but did not remember anything. It’s the breathing that I have trouble with. It's too much like my first death. This, it’s like she was inside me.” Nile gasps for air as she shakes, Nicky stops her from clawing at her skin, where she can feel things under her flesh still.  
“Nile, we will go, move, change the sensations on your skin, force your mind on to something else, wash the Adrenalin out of you so you can sleep again.” Nicky urges her up, concern etched into his face. Nile nods, anything to stop this. Nicky leaves the room, Nile hears a bedroom door open.  
“Could you tell anything about where she is?” Andy face has a sour twist, like she does not want to ask but can not help to do so.  
“There is some light for her to see by, not a lot, but she understands night and day and seasons, the colors are wrong. There is a lot of pressure on her and her ears feel funny. She feels vibrations in her chest sometimes. I’m sorry Andy, I can’t give you more.” Nile gets out a broken “I don’t know fish.” before she starts crying. Andy pats Nile’s arm, clearly uncomfortable and looking for Nicky at the door before looking at Joe. Nicky comes back into the room before Andy wakes Joe. Nicky tuts at Andy, startling Nile so she sits up straight, Nicky takes the opportunity to push Nile’s running clothes into her lap before heading to the en suite. He comes back with tissue and a wet cloth and for half a second Nile expects to be told to blow. Nile takes the tissue from his hand, uses it and then the wet cloth to clean up her face. She peels out of her sleepwear as Nicky is pulling on clothes behind her, the bra and top go on with no issue but the leggings burn against her skin. Nicky throws her a pair of short running shorts that are loose everywhere on her and barely cover what needs to be covered, she thinks they would be just this side of indecent on either of the guys.  
“They fit Nile better than they ever did you, Nicky.” Andy is looking Nile up and down as she puts on her socks.  
“Everything has a place and a time, Boss.” Nicky’s tone is teasing, he takes Nile's hand as he passes, leading her out of the room, but not before Andy mutters ‘porn shorts’.  
Nicky grabs both sets of roller skates as they head for the apartment door.They take the stairs at a desperate speed, with no shoes on the noise is kept down enough not to wake the rest of the building. The cool early morning air chilies Nile's bare legs, crawling her flesh in a different way from the phantom sensations the dream has left behind. Once Nile has her shoes and skates on, Nicky flashes her a smile, “Hard or easy?”  
“Hard.” Nile tells him, she wants to lose herself in something, anything , numb her mind and be free from the after effects of this dream.  
“Catch me.” Nicky skates off up the road away from the park and takes the right turn at the first junction. Nile chases after him, the street lit only by street lamps, the sky cloudy with no breaks for the moon to shine through, she pushes hard to keep him in sight. Nicky has moved off the pavement and onto the cycleway, so he does not have to dodge any early morning pedestrians. Nile loses sight of him at a junction, finding him off to her right as he struggles to cross the tram tracks without falling. Nile is a little smoother when it comes to her turn, Nicky skating in a loop until she can chase after him again freely. Nicky stays on the road even though there is no cycle way, nearly getting hit by a car as they both cross a junction at the same Nile. Nile shouts after him that she will tell Joe he is being reckless, Nickys laughter drifts back to her. But when he comes across a cycleway at the next junction, Nicky turns right on to it. Nile nearly catches up with him as they round a walled in park, before he picks up pace with a grin thrown over his shoulder. Nicky turns left at the next boulevard and then crosses over it at the round-a-bout. Nile can feel her legs ache, her lungs working as sweat forms and chills on her skin. They keep a steady gap as they pass the building site for the new stadium, before Nicky chances a red light to get onto the other boulevard. Nile slows and the light changes but Nicky is gone. Nile slows to a more comfortable speed, Nicky circled back for her before he will again. At the next round-a-bout is a set of fountains with Nicky sat on the wall, he waves at her. Nile carefully crosses the road, but it is early and there are no cars. she stomps over the grass, you can not skate on it and you can not walk normally. Nile has to splash him when she gets close, Nicky just lets her which is not fun and annoying and properly how he deals with Joe, so Nile is going to stop this line of thinking right now.  
“What do you think it’s meant to be?” Nicky asks as she sits down, indicating the huge purple statue at the previous round-a-about, it’s lit up by lights and partially obscured by the trees.  
“It makes me think of a woman's head with big hoop earrings.” Nile tells him honestly.  
Nicky smiles. “Hair like the Star Wars woman.” Nicky circles to the side of his head with his fingers.  
Nile laughs, “Do you think we will live long enough to live on spaceships?”  
“To go to another world, see new things never before seen by humans? Yes, I think that time will come and if we live as long as Andy, we will see it. I wonder what it will be like to be weightless, the risks, the deaths we would survive. We would have to be so careful, not to be caught, but the experiences would be” Nicky waves his hand, “I don’t have the words. I think it would not be travel like we know it now to get to other stars but wormholes or” Nicky gives Nile a look, “I am being too much, the others don’t read what I read we have no common ground to discuss ideas.”  
“Sorry, I am not a big SCI-Fi fan. But I read a book about a ship they, like the grandparents set off and the grandchildren arrive at the planet and the great-grandchild go down to settle the world.”  
“Generational ships, yes I have read many books on the concept. It's a good allegory for immigration and tradition in the face of a changing world. Family dramas about responsibility and expectation and being yourself. Booker could never get past the space/ new planet situation to see the themes were the same as the books he likes.”  
“Which is why we don’t do book clubs.”  
“One of the reasons, we can all get a little passionate and may have broken a table or two.”  
Nile laughs, she can believe they are that passionate but over books is still a strange idea to her, old fashioned, but the guess printing is new to Andy, Nicky and Joe and mass produced entertainment books even newer.  
“The first Sci-Fi you read must have blown your mind, been overwhelmingly and impossible.”  
“I had come across Lucian of Samosata work when I was learning to be a priest, ‘Lover of lies’ was quite popular amongst those of us who believe in the order of the world and were against the belief in the supernatural from something other than god, pagan beliefs. I had found some of his other works in Aleppo, Cairo and Cordoba. So when I found ‘A true story’ in Timbuktu I read it. Then I read it again the next day. I could almost believe the strange places on Earth that they talked about, I could see how, when trying to explain a new thing you had seen to someone who has not seen it, you would say it looks a bit like this or that. Four people later the thing becomes a cross of this and that. But then the whirlwind takes him to the moon and he fights in the war between the moon and sun kings.” Nicky has become animated, his hands mapping out things he is talking about. “I felt as if a door opened inside me and everything was there before me and I could be anything.” Nicky stops moving and looks at Nile, “Which is what Yusuf had been saying for years that the only thing stopping us doing anything was us.” Nicky smiles, “I talked about that book for months. Yusuf, wrote me a copy, with installations to take with us when we finally left Timbuktu. We had to leave it behind when we left Bagdad, we could only take so much before the fire got to strong.”  
“Timbuktu was before you met Andy?”  
“Yes, before we went to Madagascar, after we had been to Genoa and Tunis.”  
“So Lucian was a 11th century writer?” That a contemporary of Joe and Nicky could have been writing stories about going to the moon is a little shocking.  
“Oh no, Lucian was classical when I read it, Roman or Roman-Greek, from the first or second century.”  
“Oh.” That makes Nile’s brain stutter, time feels different with these guys, not linear, but sticky globs clinging to places. The distance past to her, it was just the other day to them. But then what is ancient history to her is ancient history to them.  
“Nile are you okay?”  
“I am okay. I was thinking HG Wells or Lovecraft or Jules Verne, not like Romans.”  
“Oh I read them as well.” Nicky is smiling.  
“I can see you and Yusuf laying in the sand looking up at the moon planning how you are going to travel around it.”  
Nicky flushes red and ducks his head, so Nile knows she is spot on with that idea. “Joe, he wants to wait until space travel is common and he does not not have to face hardships.” Nicky steers the subject away from Nile’s comment. “For a man who is happy to go out fishing in what is basically a hollowed out log, he likes to travel in comfort on the seas. We had this idea that it would be like sailing ships,” Nicky shugs “there was nothing else we could imagine. Now we know about rockets Joe still wants his luxury.” Nicky smiles again. “It has been a fun daydream, what other worlds would be like. It passed the time on many a mission, although not over comms anymore.” Nicky fights a sigh and stops the glossing over gesture halfway through, “Booker thinks such talk stupid, that man will never leave Earth. Booker” Nicky tone is full of judgement, “does not believe in the moon landings.”  
“Booker is a grump.”  
Nicky chuckles, “That is one word for him.”  
“What does Andy think?”  
“Andy says what will happen will happen. She has a point. The future will happen; we can not control it and will not be the way we think it will go.” Nicky tries and fails to bring his knee to his chest, the skate catching on the stone. “The codebreakers in Bletchley Park could not see google come out of their work any more than I could see automation coming from water wheel turned belt drives. First life Nicky would claim almost everything we can see is illusion and trickery, the road, the water, the buildings,” Nicky points to things as he names them, “Our clothes, these skates, the light, it is all new. All so very different from the world I was born into, the path to get here hidden from us as we live it, only seen when looking back.”  
“Much like the good you guys have done.”  
“Yes, much like that.” Nicky sighs. “Tell me if I go on. Andy and Booker do. Joe thinks philosophy is for the evening, with a roaring fire and good food, a luxury of the wealthy. He tells me that philosophy in the morning is just setting up worries for the day.”  
“He does not want you to stress about things, he is looking out for you.” Nile can’t see Joe trying to sensor Nicky, he might not understand what Nicky is going on about but Joe would not want Nicky silence.  
“It is more that he is not awake enough.”  
“Joe is not a morning person.”  
“True.” Nicky stretches his arms up above his head. “Ready to go back?”  
“Slower this time.”  
They stomp over the grass around the brushes back on to the road. Cutting across the road, after checking for any cars using the round-a-bout they skate to the cycle route side by side. They do a loop of the purple statue, it’s impressive but unclear as to what it’s meant to be. They stay on the boulevard until they reach the Turia park and then turn left to go back to the apartment. It’s still before sunrise, Nile thinks, the overcast sky having no hint of light to it except what is reflected from the city.

They take their skates off before entering the building, Nicky’s socked feet making no sound when he climbs the stairs next to Nile. The apartment is still when they enter, they find Andy still sitting on the bed, wake now but signs she had been asleep, Joe snuggled up almost completely under the duvet.  
“Feeling better Nile?” Andy keeps her voice low.  
“Yes, thank you both.”  
“It’s what families do for each other.” Nicky tells her.  
Andy snorts, climbing off the bed, “I am going back to my bed to sleep, wake me at a normal time.”  
“Yes Boss,” Nicky looks at the bed, “going back to bed Nile?”  
“No, I am going to shower, I am not tired. I might have a nap this afternoon.”  
“Okay, I’ll be in the kitchen.”  
“You can go back to sleep Nicky.”  
“After, I have seen you settle. I just want to make sure you are recovered.”  
“Okay, but you won’t force yourself to stay up?”  
“No,” Nicky looks at Joe with a smile. ”I can go back to sleep.”  
Nile pats his shoulder before she heads to the bathroom.

When Nile makes her way through the dark apartment to the kitchen, she can hear the electric whisk going. Nicky has cake tin lined on the counter and is whipping up eggs and sugar. In a pan is some steaming small grain rice, that tastes sweet and creamy when she eats a pinch. Nicky shakes his head at her, mixing the rice into the eggs then putting it into the cake tin. He yawns as he puts it into the oven.  
“Go to bed Nicky, I’ll take whatever that is out when it’s done.”  
“It is torta di riso, um rice cake, it’s breakfast food.” Nicky yawns again.  
“Is the timer set?”  
Nicky checks, then checks again, “Yes. Leave it on the side to cool.”  
“Can you make it back to bed or do you need help?”  
Nicky goes to reply but yawns again, he turns and leaves the kitchen with a wave. Nile waits until she hears the bedroom door close before putting an egg to boil. She has that with a slice of cold beef wellington for breakfast, before washing up and taking her second cup of coffee into the sitting room to use the laptop as she relaxes on the sofa. she gives herself until the timer goes off to look at news in Chicago.  
Once the cake is out of the oven, Nile goes back to the laptop in the sitting room to look at youtube, propping the screen against her thighs as she rests her head on the sofa arm, she spends some time watching old favorite music videos and some tv clips.  
Even though the clips make her laugh, they also make her sad. So she starts looking for people using swords, like reenactment groups or clubs or guilds or even a tutorial. There are a lot different styles and types of swords and clips. After a few videos, she decides she is not going to be using a long sword anytime soon. She is too small and it takes both hands, she does not like the idea of having two hands in use on the same weapon, plus she is not sure she has the upper body strength. The epee swords look like they are fun but not going to do much damage, the rapier looks better, it can do some damage and is one handed. The saber has even better slashing damage without using both hands..  
Nicky, with Joe trailing sleepy behind heads out from the bedrooms toward her, Nicky takes her empty coffee cup with a kiss to her forehead, Joe tumbles over the sofa arm onto Nile’s bent legs. Nile thinks this is a good place to stop looking at sword fighting, she will have to ask if one of the swords in the umbrella stand is a sabre, she thinks one is but it might also be something else. Nile goes to look up a tangent that caught her eye, one of the clips has a music cover over the top of it and the comments section talks about bardcore. A couple of clicks later, Nile has found a modern song covered in Latin, they have the lyrics in Latin on one side and the English, Nile watches one half way through before turning the sound up and starting the clip again. The laptop is blaring out ‘Smells like teen spirit” in Latin. Joe’s face when he looks up from his place against her legs is pure confusion. Joe calls Nicky in, from the kitchen and makes Nile play the video again, Andy enters the room halfway though, the look of confusion never goes away from any of them.  
“Is that Latin?” Nicky asks.  
“His accent is terrible.” Andy points out, “Accents, he can’t even pick one.”  
Nile has to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. They have Nile play it again, the three of them joining to sing the Latin properly. Nile has tears streaming down her face by then end.  
“Play something else.” Andy commands. Nile picks the ‘A horse with no name’ cover.  
Joe hums along before the words even start, Nicky finger twitch toward the end and Nile realizes he is playing piece. Once it ends Nicky gets up from the sofa arm and heads to the kitchen coming back back with slices of the rice cake, fruit tarts and coffee for everyone. Andy stops asking Nile questions about youtube and the internet and just why, that Nile really can’t answer because it has always been a thing and she is glad it’s not TicToc she had on because even she thinks that is strange sometimes. Andy takes her plate with a happy “Torta di riso”. Nile waits until the others are eating to eat her first bite and it tastes way better than she thought it would.

Nicky piles the plates on the coffee table once they have finished eating, leaning back on the armchair as Joe rests his head on Nile’s lap. Nile plays with his curls as she sips her coffee.  
“Barcelona tomorrow.” Andy states, Nicky makes a nose of confirmation, Nile nods, Joe seems to have gone back to sleep, Andy does not look to him for a response anyway. “Hire or buy a van?”  
“Hire.” Nile wants something decent and reliable.  
“Hire two.” Nicky adds. “split the journey.”  
Nile huffs, “we should change cars to at some point.”  
“Zurich.” Nick and Andy speak at the same time, “Train to Munich.” Andy adds.  
“I was thinking Nile might like to go to Vaduz in Liechtenstein.”  
“Is that a real now town and country or an old place?” Nile asks.  
Andy snorts, “Both.”  
“Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein, a small country between Switzerland and Austria.”  
“Cool, let’s go.” Nile gives Nicky a thumbs up.  
“Fine, pick up a new car in Munich anyway. Two train trips or three if you want to go to Austria.” Andy waves her hand at Nicky.  
“Save Austria for another trip. What in Munich, that you want to go there Andy?” Nile answers her question with, “Getting a German car in Germany?”  
“Ulli.” Joe says from Nile’s lap. “He is an informant of Andy’s, he is an old fat spider sat in his web.”  
“He is not fat.” Andy but’s in. Nile catches Nicky's little smile, Oh, thinks Nile, bionically.  
“Also blind, but hears things and knows people or of people. Trust but verify and all that.” Joe carries on ignoring Andy.  
“I know you trust him, but it’s good to get information from someone other than Copley.” Nicky tells her. “We will need another phone, to talk to him.”  
“We can restock in France.” Andy declares.  
“Are we going to Italy? I thought we were going to Milan?” Joe shifts to look at Andy, pressing his head against Nile's stomach. Nile pushes at his shoulder until the pressure on her is lessened. “Can we go to Genoa?”  
“No Nile.” Nicky snaps. “Sorry,” He takes a breath. “I have no desire to go back to that city, it is not the town of my birth and painfully it is still in it’s bones, I can not deal with everything that going there makes me feel.” Joe has swung his leg off the sofa to touch Nicky’s legs, Nicky circles his fingers around Joe’s ankle. Nile put a hand across Joe's chest to stop him falling. Joe tenses under her arm then relaxes back onto the sofa. “You like Turin, Oh we can go to the museum and find pictures of Andy.”  
“There are no pictures of me in that museum. Nile let him fall on the floor.” Andy commands.  
“Which museum?”  
“The Egyptian one.” Andy somehow makes it sound like a threat, before leaning back into the armchair to glare at Joe.  
“Maybe.” Nicky starts and Andy glares at him, this straightens his spine, Nile gets the impression this is what he wants Andy’s eyes on him not Joe. “Maybe, this time we will not get kicked out for being drunk.” Nicky looks at Nile, “You see some people” Nicky looks back at Andy, “had his game where you drank from a hip flask every time something is labeled or translated wrong. Archaeology and translations have come a long way since we first went to the Egyptian Museum.”  
“Booker enjoyed the game.” Andy grumbles.  
“What I never understood is how when the cathedrals were built by craftsmen and skilled workers people believed that the Pyramids were built by slaves.” Nicky sounds confused.  
“They weren't?” Nile seen a lot of reference to slaves building the pyramids in her life.  
“Of course not.” Andy shouts basically coming out of her chair. “there was a city of craftsmen and their families, good food, liquid bread. The art, the painting, the dancing, the music. It was a time to be filled with wonders.”  
“Liquid bread?” Nile asks, breathing through the panic that Andy saw the pyramids go up, Nile knows Andy talks about Roman as if it was an empire that only just fell, but she is old.  
“Early beer, made very much like bread but runny.” Joe explains from Nile's lap. “It tastes better than you would think and it’s filling.”  
“Andy taught me the concept and I spent a couple of years getting it right.” Nicky adds.  
“What did the pyramids look like when they were finished?” Nile’s brain is firing questions but the one that comes out is based around the knowledge that the structures Nile knows are in fact ruins.  
“Blinding.” Andy flops back into the chair, “Truly, they hurt to look at in the midday sun, all that polished white stone reflecting the sunlight, glowing in the moonlight like they held some magic to them.” Andy looks into her coffee cup, “I took Quynh when I found her. They were a bit worn by then but still wondrous, I wanted for her to feel joy at the world, like I had not just anger. I thought it would help her as it helped me.”  
A glance at Nicky tells Nile that Andy has never shared this part of her story with the guys, more so than Joe twisting around on her lap.  
“Joe if you try to hug me I will stab you.” Andy still is not looking up from her cup. Joe stills sitting up, both he and Nicky reach out with an arm for each other blindly but accurately.  
“We will take Nile to the stupid museum, I will tell you what all the translation should be, what all the items are. Someone needs to know.” Andy looks at Nicky. “In your plan, we need to go to Kush, I want to put Lykons name on one of the temples there, while I still can. He should rest with his people, I should let him go.” Andy gets up, slamming the coffee cup onto the table and striding to her bed room, the door clicking shut echoes in silence of her wake.

Nicky and Joe have a hushed conversation after a few moments of awkward silence, Joe glancing down the corridor to where Andy went. Nile feels helpless and lost, tears forming in her eyes, that she blinks away, Andy’s grief has called hers to the surface again. Tears roll down her face and she looks to Joe and Nicky for comfort, the Italian is emotional even if she does not understand the words, they are comforting each other and she does not want to intrude, Nile knows she could go over to either of them, get a hug, be comforted by them. But they are upset too, they need to feel and not push their emotions down to deal with hers and they need to be there for each other and not have her taking up their space. They can’t all be freaking out at the same time, someone has to watch the door. She can do that, she just needs to find something to occupy her. Nile spies the dirty plates and mugs, that’s the one thing she can do. The guys don’t notice as she leaves the room.

Nile is vaguely drying up when she hears footsteps behind her entering the kitchen, Joe envelopes her in a hug from behind. “Desolato, desolato” Joe whispers into her hair, he cooks his chin over her shoulder, “Sorry, Nile we did not mean to drive you away.”  
“Is Nicky freaking out?”  
“A little.”  
“Finish drying up, I’ll talk to him.” Joe seems relived to be given something to do and releases Nile. Nicky is leaning up against the wall, by the kitchen door, Nile thinks he is doing breathing exercises, she waits for him to let out the breath he is holding. “Can I touch you Nicky?”  
Nicky nods, Nile runs her hand across the back of his neck squeezing with her thumb and two fingers, scratching with the other two, Nile goes up on tiptoes to press her forehead to his. Nile holds the position until she is happy Nicky’s breathing is normal and puts her heels on the floor, Nicky moves forward to keep their foreheads touching, so Nile pulls him back with her hand. Joe is standing by the kitchen door, half way into the hall, pressed up against the door frame, Nile does not look at him, only Nicky, into the space between her and Nicky she tells him. “I knew I could come to you or Joe and you would comfort me and look after me. I did not question or doubt that for one second. Do you understand?”  
Nicky nods.  
“What did I say?”  
Nicky turns his head to Joe, Nile lets him.  
“Nicky.” Nile calls and waits for him to look back at her, “Are you not speaking.”  
Nicky nods.  
“Okay, just listen. I know I can come to you and Joe, I know you will provide the support I need. I choose to leave you and Joe to each other and not to interrupt. My choice. I wanted you two to have time to yourselves. You and Joe have known Andy almost all your lives, I can’t understand what the two of you are feeling and I want you two to have the time and space to deal with these feelings. This will mean sometimes I will leave the two of you alone even if I am hurting too. It’s not the same for me, what I feel is not less or more then you, just different. Anything you don’t understand?”  
Nicky shakes his head and presses forward to hug her. Nile pats his back, she looks at Joe, “Take Nicky back to our room, give him a hugs and make sure he understands,he did nothing wrong.” Nile pushes Nicky at Joe.  
“What are you going to do.” Joe is clearly worried and wants reassurance.  
“Take Andy some chocolate and check on her, then I will join you.”  
“Graize.” Joe leads Nicky away, Nile waits until they are out of sight before entering the kitchen. A few deep breaths of her own, Nile can’t be mad at any of them, this is not anyone here's fault. Booker is going to have to take some blame for Nicky not being in a good place, but if this is Andy’s time, then things like this were always going to happen as they get used to the idea. Nile takes the chocolate out of the cupboard and goes to see Andy.

Andy is wrapped in the duvet, a lump on the bed, she may or may not have been crying but she is not now and her face could be red for other reasons. Nile leaves the door open and chucks the chocolate bar at the Andy lump. Andy takes the chocolate bar, opens it and breaks off a strip as Nile sits on the far end of the bed.  
“Want to talk?”  
“Isn’t talking what got us into this mess?” Andy breaks off some more chocolate. “You’re not getting any.”  
“Joe told me early on you don’t share well.”  
Andy huff, but smiles when she looks up at Nile, “When?”  
“Tier. I think he wanted somebody in with Nicky.”  
“You are going to have to break them out of the habit if you want to sleep by yourself.”  
Nile ducks her head, looking embarrassed.  
“Oh, Nile none of us are going to judge you or think badly of you, we might not understand your desires but we accept them.” Andy reached out to take Nile’s hand. “It will only ever be sleep, they will never include you.” Nile looks up to reply as Andy continues, “They will be nice about it and not treat you any different in the morning but it is always only Joe and Nicky.”  
Oh thinks Nile, that is experience talking, was Andy looking for comfort after Quyhn was lost or at some other time. No, Nile not going to ask.  
“I only want to sleep, Andy, I am not even sure how I would join them even if I wanted to which I don’t.”  
“Well, Nile you.” Andy starts as Nile pauses for breath.  
“No Andy I don’t want to know.” Nile interprets putting her free hand up in the universal stop sign. “It’s warm and safe and I feel like I am being looked after when I am with them. I don’t feel alone.”  
Andy squeezes Nile’s hand in response then pulls away, she takes another piece of chocolate, shoving the last piece toward Nile. Nile takes the piece and she smiles warmly at Andy. Chocolate gone Nile wonders aloud “Do you know what Joe thing that only he has ever seen is?”  
“I am not Joe or Nicky, I have to have the whole conversation.”  
Nile smiles, because it is true, there are a lot of half conversations with the guys and between them not even half. “You saw the Pyramids whole and newly completed. Mind blowing as that is for me to say. Nicky saw Koala Lemurs, well one once when they were on Madagascar the first time. I am pretty sure they saw Pygmy hippos that are also extinct there and maybe some other rhino’s too. But Nicky is the only one that saw the Koala Lemur. So, what has only Joe seen?”  
“This city, before it was Valencia?”  
“Oh yeah, of course.”  
“It is not the same, building and animals. We have all seen animals that are no longer around, for one reason or another. Places lost to time, war and reclaimed by nature. Time changes everything, at varying speeds but nothing is the same tomorrow as it was yesterday.”  
“Can I have my mind blow, just for a bit before one of you goes, yes Nile, that is how time works.” Nile sounds exasperated and with a sigh at the end, when she looks back up from hanging her head, Andy looks a little panicked. “Andy, I am not going to freak out on you.” Andy does not look convinced. “I am going to sit with the guys in our bedroom. You can join us if you want.”  
“Why are they in bed?”  
“I left Joe and Nicky to comfort each other when you walked out, earlier. Nicky thinks they pushed me away.”  
“He is thinking wrong things again.”  
Nile sighs, she knows it is and isn’t that simple in Nicky’s head, but this is not a fight she has the energy for. “I told him I choose to leave the room, to give them space, I know I can go to them for support. So, now I have checked that you are okay, I am off to get hugs.” Nile stands up to leave the room.  
“Tell Nicky when he is ready, I’ll have another coffee and then I’ll go and get the van with Joe. You and Nicky can plan everything.”  
Nile resists the urge to salute her orders, just nodding instead before she leaves the room. Joe and Nicky are both sitting on the bed, Joe leaning against the wall and Nicky against the headboard. The blue blanket covering their laps, Nicky is talking softly to Joe, Nile lets the words wash over her as she rests her head on Nicky’s lap. Joe takes her hand as Nicky strokes his fingers over her hair line.  
Nile lays in Nicky’s lap, letting herself feel everything she has pushed down for the last few days. The news of a death by shooting on her old street from this morning's news is the first thing that comes up, she lets herself feel sad for her old neighborhood that she left halfway through high school, when her Mum got a better job and they could move somewhere nicer. Nile can’t think who the boy was, far younger than her brother, possibly even the son of one of the older girls Nile knew. There is no connection really, Nile has already left that place and time, it’s just something that happens in a place she knows of. Nile lets go of any guilt, sadness and worry of the incident.  
With it goes a lot of her connect to Chicago, it will always be her home town and it’s where her Mum and Brother live, but Nile has lost track of her high school peers, the Marines taking up her place of school friends and Nile has to admit to an disconnect that’s gotten larger with each leave. It’s not a place she can or wants to call Home anymore. Nicky is right, home towns are a mess of emotion and she guesses always will be. It’s a neat mess that everyone is aware of, so Nile boxes it up and puts it to one side knowing it will always be there and that that is okay.  
This brings out the question of if the full might of the US military is after her. She remembers the face of the people, her bunk mates and the officers, there was fear, some more hidden than others. They were afraid of her, of what happened and what it meant. They were going to ship her off for testing, lock her up, like Merrick. Then Andy walked into the base and kidnapped her, also saved her but that has got to be embarrassing for the brass. No they claimed she was KIA and buried her, that the brass just whitewashing everything and pretending it didn't happen. They are not going to look for her, it opens up to many difficult questions. A childish part of Nile is sad they are not chasing her, like she is part of a modern A-team, the adult part of her is happy that is not a worry. It is not like she is going to walk onto a base anytime soon but she is not going to be grabbed on the street. Not by them anyway.  
Next bubbles up a face, of the first man she killed and Nile jerks, both Nicky and Joe make soothing noises, thumbs swiping over her hands and hair, Nile settles again, she killed him and she is sorry he is dead, shooting him had been instinct, no conscious thought. Nile sighs, this is something she just has to accept, hard as it is, she is a killer and yet she is not a bad person. She can be both, this is something she is going to have to talk about with Nicky and Joe. The other faces of the men she killed at Merricks, they do not have the same weight, is that because they were not the first, or because they killed her first or that it was a firefight or she knows what would happen if they caught her. In herself Nile believes that part of the difference is because she went into that building knowing she is going to kill people and if she didn’t then she and the others would be trapped and experimented on, she had a justified clear reason to kill. Nile boxes these thoughts up to open with Joe and Nicky at a later date, before they start training, Nile has to work out how she fits into the group during combat and what she can do with them, before training starts. She does not know if she can kill as freely as Andy can and her freezing puts them at risk. She spared Kozak and that put them at risk but the Doctor did not have a weapon and Nile could not kill her in cold blood. There is a weight to this line of thinking but it does not hold the terror Nile had before, more a quest for understanding of where her lines are and if they can and will change.  
“Penny for your thoughts?” Joe asks.  
Nile opens her eyes, tilting her head to look at Joe. “I was just thinking somethings through. I will need to talk to both of you later but we have plans today and I don’t know how long it would take or what the results will be. When we get to where we are going, the second day, once we are settled, we can talk then.” Joe sends a look over Nile’s head to Nicky that Nile can not interpret. “If that is okay with you two?” Nile is nervous about their response.  
“Of course, Nile.” Nicky's voice rumbles against her head. “But if you need to talk to us at any time we are here for you.”  
“I know, but this is not a small thing, it’s why I walked away the first time at Copley’s, it’s who I am and who I thought I was.”  
“Then I will clear a day for it.” Nicky's promise is given solemnly.  
“How is Andy?” Joe asks.  
“She want’s coffee when you are ready, then she wants to take Joe to get the van. Nicky, she thinks you should stop thinking wrong things. I think she had been crying but I can’t say for sure. We are not talking about it.”  
“Nicky, she saw the pyramids newly built.” Joe teases.  
“She is old.” Nicky drags the last word out.  
“So old.” Nile tries to drag the old out too but it turns into a giggle and both guys join in. Nicky shuffles them all off the bed once they stop laughing to make coffee and find food to eat.

Nicky calls Andy after the coffee is made, she joins them at the table, Nile gets a pat on the shoulder, Joe his hair ruffled and Nicky gets a hair ruffles, shoulder squeeze before Andy rests her hand on the back of his neck. Nicky gives her a little smile before she pulls her hand a way. They eat the rest of the rice cake in a comfortable silence. Andy looks like she wants to speak a couple of times, before she finishes her cake. Finally Joe breaks the silence with, “Do you want to see if we can get any packing boxes with the van?”  
“I want to get some sheets to wrap the paintings and some pluriball, plus some post boxes and a bag for the swords, maybe another case for the clothes.” Nicky looks up from his coffee to meet Joe’s eyes  
“Pluriball?” Asks Nile  
“The plastic sheets with the little domes of air you can pop.” Nicky mines popping the bubble wrap as he speaks. Nile nods her understanding.  
“Let's move people.” Andy stands finishing her coffee in one go, the others follow.

The four of them leave the apartment together, Nicky and Joe sharing a kiss or three before Joe and Andy head off to the train station and it’s many vehicle hire places. Nile and Nicky head to the shopping center they passed skate home this morning. After a couple of road crossings later Nicky ducks into a book shop, searched the shelves for something. At the back of the bookshop are travel guides and paper maps, Nile looks at a couple of hiking maps and military grade.maps, before finding a road atlas for Europe. She is still looking at a half planned out route when Nicky finds her.  
“I know it’s silly, but the paper has a presence it to that google maps does not, it makes the trip seem real before it starts.”  
“It is not silly, Nile. I understand the feeling.” Nicky smiles and mumbles something in French.  
“What was that.”  
“One of the Louis of France commissioned an accurate map of France, like the British ordnance surveys, when it was presented to him he said, never has any battle lost France so much land as this map. It was a popular joke at the time, like a meme,” Nicky says me-me and Nile tries not to smile, “everything lost France land.”  
“Everything?”  
“Woodcut cartoons and plays. I learnt to play at least two songs where that was in the lyrics. Not in France of course but the rest of Europe.”  
“People don’t change, we do the same things just in different ways.”  
“Not even different ways, just different media.” Nicky smiles, “We can buy it, it would be good to have an updated version.”  
“When is your last version from?”  
Nicky thinks then says embarrassed, “We were going to get a new one when the Iron current fell, when all the connections were reestablished but then Bosina happened and well, now is a good time to get a new one.”  
“Okay.” Then because she is not cruel, “It pronounced meme, not me-me.”  
“Ah, I did wonder.”  
“Did you get the book you wanted?”  
Nicky waves two books and takes the road atlas out of Nile’s hands to go to pay. 

Nicky ends up taking Nile around a shopping center. They get a golf bag, minus the clubs for the swords. Nile admits that its a good fit for them and a good idea, something about how Nicky acts tells her there is some story behind his smile and how she feels like she just passed a test. One of the large suitcases is used to store the flat boxes, brown paper, tape and cheap plain bed sheets Nicky buys, the other several rolls of bubble wrap. A quick pop into the supermarket to get cooked chicken, bread and drinks and they are on their way back to the apartment.

While Nile puts the food in the kitchen, Nicky empties out the suitcases. Nile finds him standing by Booker drawers looking lost. Nile gently touches him on the arm, “Nicky why don’t you pack your’s and Joe’s clothes in the case, I put a change for tomorrow on my dresser and you can then pack the rest of mine.”  
Nicky makes a gesture to the drawers.  
“I have a plan to mess with Copley, I’ll get started as you pack and then explain it to you.”  
Nicky nods and moves away, letting Nile have her space. Nile makes up four of the boxes and then goes to sort out her clothes. She hides Andy’s letters between the folds of her jeans. Back in the sitting room Nile starts sorting through the forger’s drawers. The stamps of varying sizes, for a range of organizations go into one box, the metal plates for number different printing presses goes into another, the card and paper, half filled out passports and ID cards go into the third, She puts the ink bottles and pads in with the paper. The tools and lens go into the forth, along with the things Nile can’t identify. Nicky comes back into the room as Nile is going through another stack of passports, Nile is playing the guess the country game, these ones were at the bottom of a drawer so are older than the first batch, meaning that the places they are for might not be countries any more. One set is definitely for the Soviet Union. She holds them up for Nicky to explain.  
“These ones are from Rhodesia, these are,” Nicky looks over the Blue passports, “I truly have no idea. These are from East Pakistan, I don’t know how or when we could use them, I can not see why Booker would have them.”  
Nile smiles as she chucks them all in the box. That makes three of three drawers empty, the fourth was the one that had the money in, there are a few more plates and stamps, assorted tools and a couple of pocket watches, one has an inscription on the back. Nile tries to puzzle out the cursive French. “Something Papa, something Rene? It’s a gift from Booker's son?”  
“Yes it says Happy Birthday. I never saw him use this. The golden one he had in the US civil war, the enameled one around 1900. We switch to wrist watches very quickly.”  
Nile hesitates before putting the watches in with the blank passports, she puts the stack of fake money, she kept in as well. “So, I was thinking we send Copley this box first.” Nile points to the tool box. “It will have no context for him and hopefully confuse him and he will spend time working out what the tools are, hopefully.”  
“I do not wish to distract him.”  
“If he is still busy or struggling when we call him tomorrow, then we will not do it.”  
“Agreed, only if he needs a distraction.”  
“We send the plates next but slower post like freighter not airmail, so the dates and places of sending will be out of sink but he will not know why. Then the blank Id’s, the stamps can go last. So it looks like we are building to something but we are not. Then I thought we could put a return address on the boxes, that will have him searching for something he can’t find. Like the church you and Joe got married in, or Booker’s son is buried or where you had a stay for a couple of years in like 1420. You know it means something but he can never work it out.”  
Nicky smiles, Nile knew this kind of practical joke would appeal to him. “You will drive him crazy.”  
“He needs to be punished a bit and very clearly distracted, we have seen what he does let unattended. It’s not that I don’t trust him, I do. I just don’t want him looking at stuff he does not need to. I had social media as a teenager, no one needs to see that.”  
“We all did things at teens that are best forgotten.”  
Nile smiles back at Nicky, glad he agrees. Between then they pack the boxes with bubble wrap before sealing them with tape. Then Nicky wraps the boxes with brown paper, which Nile thinks is unnecessary and old fashioned but she hopes it adds to the general air of confusion. They put Copley's address on all the boxes, then Nicky starts writing the return address.  
“Do I get to know the places?”  
“Of course Nile.” Nicky finishes writing on the tool box an address in Amsterdam, “This is our first Charlie safe house.”  
Nicky tells Nile, As he puts an address in the stamp box of a place in France, “This is where Booker had a ‘workshop’ during World War Two making documents for the resistance and a small printing press for an underground newspaper.”  
“I think Copley might get that one.”  
“We have to give him something and the street was bombed and the houses pulled down, the area is laid out differently now. We suspected a traitor in the command structure and there was one, Andy killed him, so we told no one in Paris or London of the place. There may be no official record.”  
“Oh, he will have to work for that information then.”  
Nicky gave a small grin. “Can you bring up the map on the laptop.”  
“Sure” Nile gets the laptop, “Where do you want to look up.”  
“Wolfenbuttel.”  
“Spell that, please.”  
Nicky does with a small smile, taking the laptop and going to street view near the castle toward a church he moves back and forth along a street before settling on an address to go on the plates. “There was a printing press in the 1680, Joe and I did translations. Andy grieved.”  
Nicky moves to another city, Varna and again looks for a place between the roman baths and a ruined church. After a few minute he settles on an address to put on the blank Id box. “I learnt to be a smith here. Somewhere near here, we stopped for a winter before. Before Joe and I were Joe and I, before we went to Mecca before everything. The forge was warm and only then did I see how cold I was. Only then did I truly come back from my first death and live. See the effort Yusuf put into keeping me alive.” Nicky leans back looking clearly at Nile. “You understand why Joe and I thought He just needed time?”  
“Yes. I do, I also get your point he chose to do what he did and live how he did. Booker has free will.”  
Nicky nods and Nile fails to come up with something to reassure Nicky he did the right thing, she was not there and can not say that they did, she would like to think so, but she will lose more by lying to Nicky and he will know she is lying. In the end she settles on, “We could put something else.”  
“No, I look forward to telling Copley on his deathbed what this all meant. And that it was all your idea.”  
“Mean.”  
“When dealing with immortals revenge can take a very long time.”  
Nicky keeps a straight face until Nile starts laughing, then he gives her a full smile.  
Nile gets up off the floor putting the laptop on the table, the empty drawers go by the door to go to the bin outside. Nile helps Nicky wrap the paintings in the bed sheets and then coarser dust sheets, then bubble wrap. The mirror and TV get the same treatment. the statue and lamps all get a layer of bubble wrap. It feels a bit like a strange pile of Christmas gifts to Nile. The swords fit neatly into the golf bag as does the standard, the guns left over from Merrick’s go into golf bag and Nicky runs the duffel they have been in through the washing machine. With a stop to make coffee for both of them, Nicky joins Nile at the dining room table. Nile has the road atlas open between Valencia and Barcelona She pushes the open notebook toward Nicky. “Nicky I was thinking with two vehicles, should we stay off of toll roads? I mean it might be more noticeable. Plus with what Andy drove back and.”  
Nicky raised his hand to stop her “I agree, was going to suggest the same thing.”  
“So Barcelona, I was thinking, we go back on the back road though the little villages, the CV-330 then on to the AP7 until we get to Barcelona. Then it will depend where we go in Barcelona.”  
“I think we call Copley from a hotel by the port, one of the big chains.”  
“Then we want the A2 and the B10.” Nile reaches for the smartphone, searches for a hotel website. “Ibis?”  
Nicky looks at the map, “No pick something closer to the station and water. We will park the vehicles somewhere else.”  
“Okay, The H10.”  
“Yes, that is better. Book one room.”  
“Done.”  
“There is a shopping center nearby, so we should find 24 hour parking. Find a small hotel toward the Sagrada Familia.”  
“Um”  
“Yes, we can go, Joe has wanted to see the place for a while. It is more a giant sculpture at the moment, the ground has not been consecrated.”  
While Nile picks a hotel, Nicky is looking at Barcelona on google maps, Nile can see little tugs at the corner of his mouth.  
“Do I get to know what you are planning?”  
“More art and buildings for us to look at. Have you picked a hotel?”  
“Praktik Bakery Hotel, they do a family room, which we can get. Sleeps four. Breakfast in the morning.” Nile shows him, Nicky nods, squeezing Nile’s hand in thanks. ”There is a bakery downstairs so Andy can eat cake, if she does not want to join us looking at art.”  
Nicky’s lips twitch.  
“Then on to Marseille, which looks like a straight run along the C17, onto the C37 up into the mountains then the a26 to N260, it’s all the same road from the looks of it. The only turn is on to the N-11 just before France. That becomes the D900, which becomes the D6009 then the D609. Then we skirt Bexiers and onto the A75. Then the D613, the D62, D570, N113, D113, then A55 into Marseille. It’s a long trip. We are stopping for lunch.”  
“In Perpignan or Narbonne.”  
“Are you set on Marseilles.”  
“Why?”  
“We are going to drive past Montpelier, we could stop there.”  
“I think it would make the drive the next day longer and that is the Alps, we can stop for a bit, in Montpelier, if you want.”  
“No, But if it's the same sort of time to Turin, can we stop for two nights? That gives us a day to do the Egyptian museum.”  
“Sure Nile, no problem.”  
“Cool Thanks.”  
“Pick a hotel with car parking and breakfast, in Marseilles. We usually stay by the port. If it is still operating, there is a shop you might like.”  
“Yes?”  
“Police surplus, plus whatever Joe gets under the counter.”  
Nile does not know what to say to that, so she smiles and nods, Nicky is right she might like that shop, it’s just odd to think that that is the kind of shop she might like. But on the other hand, batons. Nile hums as she books them a stay at the hotel la Residence du Vieux Port, it’s got parking and breakfast and a family suite for the four of them.  
“Right Turin next.”  
“Yes.”  
“Last chance to change your mind.” Nile teases.  
“Turin, please Nile, please.”  
“So, it’s simple route, on to the A51, then the N94 which becomes the SS24 in Italy, then the SP24, it to Turin. We cross Lake De Serre-Poncon, I think that will be a good place to stop for lunch.”  
Nicky looks at the map, “Yes, that will be nice.”  
“Any preference for where to stay in Turin?”  
“Between the train station and the Royal palace. There are a lot of hotels or there where, there still should be.”  
“When were you there last?”  
“1992 maybe. It could be 93, I don’t think it was the 80’s and definitely not 94, it was only for a few days, but everything being Italian was soothing.”  
“Even if Booker and Andy got you thrown out of a museum for being drunk.”  
“But it is tradition Nile. The British Museum and the Met in New York are worse. There was a fight at one, the other Andy and Joe tried to steal something. Each time they swap which they do, claiming that they did the same thing last time.”  
Nile laughs, she flicks though hotels in the area Nicky said, Nile picks one called Hotel Victoria Torino, She books a junior sweet for two nights. There is a spa and pool on site and a car park nearby. One of the attractions nearby is called the Medieval Village. Nile curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up looking at the place in street view. “Nicky did towns look like this?”  
Nicky looks at the street view with a smile, “Yes and no, it’s a cleaner, neater view, but the essence is right.”  
“The buildings are all painted.”  
“Yes, you would paint the outside walls to show off wealth and carve the outside of the wood beams, everything looked very colourful.”  
“I think of the past being drab and gray.”  
“I blame early film for this, it had no color, when in fact everything was full of color, now is in fact drab, lots of gray and blue.”  
Nile looks at Nicky in the blue cargo pants and grey t-shirt. “I do not wish to stand out, Nile.”  
“Okay Nicky.” Nile does not believe him, Nicky and Joe to a lesser extent blow the myth that gay men have good fashion sense out the water.  
“If you pick a hotel in Milan inside the ring road, but not the center, there is decent transport in the city. Just don’t pick by the football stadium.”  
“Bad memories?”  
“No, I know Italians and football, if a match is being played it will be very noisy.”  
“Except you.”  
“I am only Italian because Genoa is part of Italy, most of my life I was Genoese.”  
Nile leaves that comment be, going back to her map. “If we take the SP590, then the SP11, the SS703 to by-pass Novara then straight on to the SP11R into Milan.” Nile looks for hotels again, rejecting one for no parking and another for no breakfast, before picking up Magna pars L’Hotel, it’s close to the railway station too. Nile sighs as she studies the map again.  
“Tried?”  
“No, I can’t find a route to Zurich without taking a toll road, I mean that’s not pointless long and convoluted.”  
“Then pick the most direct, we will be giving up the van and the car.”  
Nile looks again, picking an almost straight line up, “Then we leave Millian by the A8 no to the A9, which becomes the 2 and then onto the 4.”  
This time Nile picks a hotel called Glokenhof, again near the station in the town center, based more on the fact it has a fondue restaurant more than anything.  
“I think we should stop booking things at this point, we can just pay on the day, it's like a fire break, if they find these bookings, they can’t find a direct link to the next.”  
Nicky looks up from his booking of a storage place, “You are using the same ID for all the hotels.”  
“No, Nina for France, Joe’s for Italy, your’s for Zurich.”  
Nicky wavers for a bit, run his hand through his hair a couple of times, “We will look the train times up and hotels, just not book anything.”  
“Loose plans, got it.” 

Andy and Joe come back as they are looking at the train times between Zurich and Vadus, bringing in with them the smell of fried food. Joe shouts greetings as he enters the kitchen, Andy drops onto a chair with a sigh before dumping a carrier bag of food on the table. Joe brings plates, cutlery and cups pouring horchata for each of them before slotting in behind Nicky. Nicky leans back against him joining their hand together, Joe kisses his check and whispers private greetings, Nicky turns his head to intone his reply and kisses Joe on the lips, before Joe shuffles them so he tuck his head over Nicky’s shoulder. They sit like that as Nile gets up to remove the food from the bag. There is a container, labelled gambas, of large prawns that Andy moves between her and Nile as soon as Nile puts it on the table. Right, Nile thinks, Not for Joe. The papas arrugadas gets taken by Nicky’s hand guided by Joe as does the setas al Ajillo. The bacalao, croquette and empanadas don’t get stolen. Joe moves to his own chair before the start to eat, slinging a leg over Nicky’s thigh, Nicky pinning his ankle between the chair and his other leg. Like many of the positions they put themselves in, Nile doesn't think it’s comfortable, but they seem happy shooting glances at each other and Joe trying to steal Nicky’s food even though there is food left in the containers. Nile tried a bit of everything, Andy has most of the prawns, Nicky the mushrooms, Joe the potatoes, Nile has more than her fair share of croquettes, they contain chicken. The empanadas contain fish and veg which surprises Nile, she is used to ground beef, once past the unexpected texture Nile has three. Over dinner Nicky informs Andy they are staying in Turin for two nights. Andy is glad because that is where they are changing vans, they are still selling the car in Zurich and renting a storage locker there, that part of the plan has not changed. Some gentle coaxing from Joe gets Nicky to agree to buy train tickets on the day and book a hotel when they get there .Andy praises Nile’s ‘fire break’ idea, they discuss whether or not to buy airline tickets. This descends into an argument about passport control. Nile loses track as the langues shift and bribes are mentioned, again, choosing to collect the plates, cups and empty tubs to wash up. the voices of the others rise as she runs the water, then she hears laughter. Nicky joins her shortly after, with a pat to her shoulder, he starts to make coffee.  
“Nicolo!” Andy shouts.  
“Yes Andy?” Nicky moves to the door.  
“Why is our safehouse address on this parcel? and Booker’s print shop?”  
“Nile and I are messing with Copley.”  
Andy is in front of Nicky jabbing her finger in his chest as she speaks, “You are just giving him information, now. Handing over our secrets.”  
Nicky is back against the wall, still smiling, “I am not giving him anything.”  
“Yes, you are.” Andy spits.  
“If we give him something he will not look in other places.”  
“Shut up Nile, you are a baby. Nicky should know better.”  
“Andy.” Joe sounds worried, standing by the door, Nicky is still smiling.  
“You shut up too Yusuf.”  
“On my god, winding Andy up was part of it too. Nicky you bastard.”  
“My parents were married before my conception, thank you, Nile.” Nicky's smile is there, although his words are prim.  
Andy looks between Nicky and Nile, “What are you up too, you little shit.”  
“Well, Nile had this idea to mess with Copley, we send him Booker’s things, in neat little parcels, in no order, so he thinks things are important, but we are just using him for storage. Then while he is trying to work out why we have sent him parcels he is not hunting for us in the here and now. The return address are so he has a place to look. But we are not giving him anything useful or current, if he even works out what the places are.”  
“It’s our safehouse.” Andy points out.  
“Yes, the one we had to leave, because they tore the building down to make way for the railway line. There is nothing there, he will be looking up old documents and land deeds, until he finds something and then he will only know where we were, once long ago. Not why or where we went.”  
“Booker’s printshop, he is in the MI 5 and 6 files.”  
“We told no one higher up where the shop was because of Henry, then it was bombed.” Joe points out. he has moved next to Nile, in arm reach of Andy, his hand raised to her when she flinches at the name.  
“Fuck Henry.” Andy turns toward Joe  
“That you did Boss.” Joe’s outreached arm ends in a fist, that Andy fist bumps with a snort.  
“Again there is nothing to be found today, only the past and even then, it’s a false hunt.” Nicky’s calm tones continue to explain this thinking to Andy.  
“The other two?” Andy weary asks, the anger that fueled her, leaving her.  
“One is the Printing shop in Wolfenbutte, or as close as I can get. The other an approximation of the black smith forge in Varna.”  
Joe sucks in a breath at the same time Andy asks “What forge?”  
“Yusuf and I spent a winter there.” Nicky is vague, dismissive in his replay.  
“You remember.” Joe's voice choked with emotion.  
“I was warm.” Whatever else Nicky was saying is lost as Joe crushes Nicky to his chest, peppering his hair with kisses and sounds that might have once been words. Nicky holds his hands on Joe's hips and lets Joe have his outburst. Andy turns to Nile for an explanation.  
“Nicky says they spent their second or third winter there, it’s where Nicky recovered from his first death.”  
“Ah, Copley will not work that out.”  
“Nicky plans to tell him on his deathbed.”  
“He is a little shit.” Andy sounds like a proud parent.  
“But he is ours.”  
Andy smiles as she looks at the guys, she squeezes Nile's shoulder before he leaves the room. Nile turns back to finish the washing up.

Joe and Nicky are still huddled up together when Nile finishes drying up, Bookers name, along with the odd Yusuf and a Nicolo or two are the only clear words Nile can make out added to the changing tones from Joe and the long halted parts from Nicky, Nile thinks they are talking about how Nicky thinks he was once like Booker. Nile wants to way in, to tell Nicky from what she has heard that on the surface there might be similarities, PTSD, depression and given Nicky is not drinking, substance abusive but they are not the same. Joe is getting frustrated, one word is being repeated in exasperation.  
“What does zestoast mean?” Nile asks mangling the word, Joe seems stuck on.  
“Warm.” Nicky looks away from Joe.  
“We gave Booker everything I gave you, time, food,shelter, love, purpose, friendship, space and an ear to what he did and did not say. How can you say he was not warm.”  
“Nicky mean’s his soul not his body.” Nile gets what Nicky means, her soul feels warm with them.  
“I doubt Booker has a soul.” Joe snaps, stepping away from Nicky to see both of them.  
“Everyone has a soul Yusuf.” Nicky scolds.  
“Fine, his is small and unused.” Joe crosses his arms defiantly, a sullen look on his face.  
Nile steps toward Joe so she can reach his shoulder and squeeze and rub it, “No one is saying you did anything wrong, Joe.”  
“I am just trying to work out why he did what he did. What was different.” Nicky sounds tried, exhausted by his own thoughts.  
“Happy people are all alike; every unhappy people are unhappy in their own way.” Nile quotes.  
“What has Anna Karenina to do with this?” Joe asks puzzled by Nile non-sequencer.  
“Booker liked Tolstoy’s books.” Nicky sounds confused too.  
“When I got counselling after my Dad died, the counselor said that about why I felt different from my brother and my Mom. He means we all deal with grief differently. But it also means what happened with you Nicky is different than with Booker.” Nicky looks unsure and Joe is still tense under her arm. “Nicky when a bridge falls down, then the end result looks the same, bits sticky out into the air and rubble in the water. But the bridge can have fallen for many different reasons, right.”  
Nicky lip twitches “Yes, many different reasons, poor materials, poor upkeep, too much weight, shear pressures, subsidence, vibrations or fire.”  
Joe chuffs a laugh and relaxes under her hand. Nile is not sure if the explanation or that Nicky has relaxed too.  
“Right, so you would fix the problems in different ways, you it was subsidence or fire or a storm, an outside source attacked you, damaged you and then you had to spend time fixing all the damage, making the bridge better.” Nicky nods that he gets the comparison, his lip twitching, “Booker he just built wrong, poor materials and no upkeep.” Joe laughs. “You get the difference?”  
“Yes, Nile.”  
“You get that it might look the same on the outside but is very different inside.”  
Nicky nods swallowing hard.  
“Hug?” Nicky falls into her arms, Joe joining them.  
“Nicky, where you not making coffee?” Andy shouts from the sitting room. They break apart so Nicky can carry out his orders.  
Nicky reaches for Joe as he works, little touches after each step, when Nile turns to leave he pulls her back by her belt loops. Nile waits for her coffee, standing to one side, in view and out of the way. Nicky hands Nile and Joe their coffee’s, taking up his and Andy’s, as a group the move to the sitting room, Andy is in her armchair bare feet on the coffee table. The guys hesitate for a second, Nile puts a hand on Joe’s back to put him on the sofa closest to Andy, as he moves Nicky gives Andy her coffee with a flourish. Joe tugs Nicky to sit beside him and once he is tucked in close to Joe, Nile takes the rest of the sofa, laying against Nicky. Nicky contented hum as he strokes her braids, pushes the tension out the room.  
Andy lets out a sigh “Just to you three know, I am getting laid in Barcelona.”  
“We plan to go to the Sagrada Familia and some other places.” Nicky’s sounds drowsy and relaxed.  
“We do?” Joe sounds excited, Nile should really sit up so she can see them and open her eyes. She should also drink her coffee.  
“Yes, I have plans.” Nicky words become a grumpy sound as Nile moves to drink her coffee.  
“Nicky is being all secret squirrel about what else he has planned.” Nile manages to get out after a gulp of coffee before she leans back down into Nicky’s lap. Joe is jostling Nicky on the other side.  
“You will find out tomorrow, my love.”  
Nile hears Joe huff but the movement stops, then a thud that sounds book like and she should really open her eyes. Joe’s voice starts reading something, it does not have the cadence of poetry, so a story? The more Nile tries to pick out words, a language, the farther away the sounds get.  
Nile feels a tug at her hand and she can’t work it out, Nicky is still under her, Joe is still reading, the little circle of warmth is gone, then there is softness and warmth. She should really open her eyes, in a minute.


	14. Day Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang move on from Valencia.  
> Nile comes to some realizations.  
> They pick up the idea for a new mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all,
> 
> Not abandon, finally finished.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it.
> 
> :)

Day Fourteen

Nile feels movement, Joe and Nicky jostling the bed, she grumbles at them to stop moving, but the sentence that was so clear in her head does not become words in her mouth. She hears laughter and there is more movement, Nile tries to sit up, something is stopping her, Nicky voice calm in her ear telling her to relax, go back to sleep, he asks her something and since the moving has stopped she agrees with him. Then one of them tickles her stomach and she did not agree to that, so Nile smacks at the hand, “ Stop tickling me.”   
Joe laughs again and Nile feels a tug on her legs, “Two on one is not fair.” Nile kicks out her leg, Joe’s laugh is farther away this time. Nile turns on her side, putting an arm across her stomach to defend against any more tickling. The guys have stopped moving and talking and Nile drifts back to sleep. 

Nile wakes in bed, next to Nicky and Joe, with no idea how she got there, sitting up she sees her jeans on the floor next to the bed, that’s what the moving and tickling was about, at least Nicky asked before they took off her jeans. Nicky has reached out to pat her leg, soft, soothing Italian words come from him, Joe grunts and shifts under the covers closer to Nicky. Nile waits for them to go back to still or wake, both men settle back to sleep, Nile gently leaves the bed, taking her bedding and jeans with her.  
Nile showers and dresses, stripping her bed things, piling up the bedding at one end, neatly stacking the duvet and pillow at the other, her dirty clothes go in the middle. She folds Andy’s letters into a pocket on the side of a rucksack and checks the room for any other items. She heads to the bathroom to pack her hair stuff and cosmetics into the rucksack, as she leaves it to one side for the items still in the bathroom, when she hears the ensuite shower go. Nile gives the bathroom a quick clean, she will finish off after Andy is dressed. Nile meets Nicky in the hall, holding her dirty clothes, “Where do you want me to put these?”  
“There is room in the suitcase even with Andy things.”  
“Okay, I put a rucksack in the bathroom for all the cosmetics and that. I’ll bring the bedding and towels out in a minute.” they walk together into the sitting room.  
“Thank you Nile.” Nicky stops by the sofa. “Did you sleep well last night?”  
“Sorry, Good morning Nicky. Yes, no dreams I can remember, I vaguely remember you and Joe putting me to bed. How did you sleep?” Nile had not intended to be rude; she is just excited about moving on. This feels like they are heading toward something not running from the lab and well Booker, mostly from Booker.  
“Well enough, you and Joe both made some distressed sounds but settled very quickly and did not wake.”  
“Sorry I woke you.”  
“I was not asleep, my own dreams woke me.”  
“Oh Nicky.” Nile stands from the suitcase, to look at Nicky, his eyes are neatly lined with a thin strip of kohl, it does not change his face much, Nile had not even noticed at first glance. “Do you need a hug or to talk about it? ”  
“Joe’s skin was warm against me and to my touch, I could move freely, once I had covered my feet again and warmed then against Joe’s legs, I could go back to sleep.”  
“Sure?”  
“I am sure Nile, it is an old dream, from events far in the past, more than one event truly, mixed into one thing. All yesterday’s talking about being warm properly brought it on.”  
Nile takes Nicky hand to squeeze it, for her own reassurance as much as his, but he has not asked for a hug, no matter how much Nile wants to. Nicky squeezes back. “I am going to make porridge.” He pulls his hand away.  
Nile watches him walk away, takes a deep breath and heads into her bedroom, she collects the bedding, has another check for anything left behind. She will clean and hover once everyone is up. After collecting damp and dirty towels, she takes everything to the utility room. Nicky intercepts her as she walks past the kitchen, steering her to a chair at the breakfast bar. Nicky puts a bowl of porridge, which is a lot like oatmeal, Nile thinks and a cup of coffee in front of her. He joins her with his own breakfast.  
“You are eager for us to go?” Nicky finally asks.  
“No, well excited, you know Barcelona and I don’t know. It seems like this is when we stop running and hiding and move to preparing and setting up.” Nile excitement coming through as she speaks.  
Nicky mutters something in Italian, stirring his food with his spoon, he flashes a smile at Nile when he looks up from his food. “True, this is a time of change.”  
“You have set up safe houses before and trained a new immortal before and been a mercenary and I get none of this is new for you. But it is all new for me.”  
“You will forgive me if it takes a little more time for me to joyous about what we have to do. Joe will join you in your enthusiasm and I take joy from seeing you both happy.”  
“Nicky I get that this whole situation is so very different you you than it is for me, I.” Nile pauses, groans and hangs her head.  
“Nile?” Nicky's voice is full of concern, his fingers brush her hand.  
“I just realized why my Mum never seemed happy, before we went to spend a day at the lakeside.” Nile says with a groan before raising her head. “I feel like a little kid.”  
“You are a little Kid.” Andy makes Nile jump and Nicky laughs. “You will be asleep before dinner.” Andy sits next to Nicky. “Coffee.”  
Nicky gets up to make Andy’s coffee and serve up the other portions of breakfast. He places Andy’s in front of her and the pan in the sink to soak which Nile appreciates, dried on oatmeal is a pain to wash up.   
“On the subject of cleaning.” Nile voices her thoughts, “Have you finished in the bathroom, Andy?”  
“Why?”Andy side eyes Nile.  
“If you are finished I can get to cleaning and packing away the bathroom and my bedroom and” Nile trails off at Andy’s groan.  
“She is excited, Boss.” Nicky sounds more amused then when she was annoying him.  
“Oh god parents.” Nicky catches Nile head before she can actually face plant into the porridge.  
“Is this why Joe is not with us.?”  
“I am letting him sleep and” Nicky lets out a breath of air and raises his arms, that must mean something to Andy as she smiles.  
“Finish your food Nile, then you can go clean and you and Joe can pack the van. Nicky can make lunch.”  
“And you will do what, supervise.”  
“Yup.”

It does not take long to clean the bathroom, Nile hears Andy talking with Joe in the bedroom and the shower runs as she vacuums her and Andy’s rooms. As she takes Andy’s stripped bed clothes to the utility room she spots a pile of dumped towels in the hall. Added to the ones already there if more than enough for a wash, given a few towels have blood on them, Nile sets the machine running. Nicky is cooking at the stove, both hold-alls full of non-perishable foodstuff on the breakfast bar, Nicky packing as he goes.   
Nile knocks on the door before entering the guy’s bedroom, Andy is stretched out on the bed, Joe is dressed and eating his breakfast, their conversation stops as Nile walks into the ensuite. Nile fills the rucksack with the guy's products, it looks like Joe has cleaned up after himself. When Nile Nile comes back into the bedroom Andy fixes her with a glare. “You want Joe or Nicky?”  
“What?”  
“In the car with you, I’m driving the van, don’t argue. Do you want Joe or Nicky?”  
“I don’t want to drive the van, we are splitting them up?”  
“Yes, in case plans change, they can do comms.”  
“Makes sense, not fussed.”  
“Have Nicky, you are better with him when he is in an odd mood.”  
“Bad day?” Joe's voice is full of concern.  
“No.” Both Andy and Nile speak at the same time, “Stressed.” Nile adds.  
“Nervous.” Andy continues, “Like Nile’s mother before a family trip.”  
“Ah, yes, Nile would be better with him.” Joe goes back to eating, missing Nile giving Andy the finger.  
“Is there much left to pack before we fill the van?” Nile looks back and forth between the two of them.  
“No Nicky and I did most of it last night as you slept on the sofa, Nicky just has to do the food and we should not interfere.”  
“Right, I’ll just go and find something to do.”  
“Take this.” Joe hands her the empty bowl, “I will be out in a minute.”  
Nile enters the kitchen with some hesitation, waiting until Nicky has seen her before heading to the sink, “You okay with me washing up?”  
“Si.”  
Nile runs the water into the sink, given the pans in the a swirl before tipping the water out, Nicky seems to have finished cooking and is sorting things to the bags.  
“Andy and Joe are hiding in the bed room.” Nile says as the sink fills.  
“They do not want to work.”  
“I am the only one not dreading this trip.”   
“No Nile,” Nicky sighs, “For all this place plays with some of my emotions, we have been safe and stable here, moving on means we lose that. Plus we have to pack the van.”  
“Well, Joe can be down by the van putting everything in and the rest of us can bring everything down in relays.”  
Nicky makes a thinking noise.  
“It will not take as long as you think, then coffee and then we can go. You will feel better once we are moving. It is the anticipation.”  
“I know Nile.”  
“I am not helping, am I.”  
“I know you mean no harm by it.”  
“You and Joe can text back and forth about me as we travel.”  
“I do not understand.”  
“Right, not actually telepathic.” Nile mutters, then more clearly, “Andy wants Joe to be in the van with her and you in the car with me, so you two can me on the phone to each other if something happens.”  
Nile just makes out, “If the phones work.”  
“Nicky, Nicolo, look at me.” Nile waits for him to do so. “I get that twenty or thirty years ago phone reception was shit. Today phones work most places and we are not going anywhere rural, like the Sahara. Understand. Texting is like instant, you press send, Joe gets the message before your finger is off the phone, there is no waiting any more.” Nile lets out a frustrated groan. “This stuff Booker should have been explaining, it’s like he kept you in the dark so you needed him.”  
“Possible.” Joe says from the door. Nile drops the blow she had been holding.  
“Don’t do that, Joe.”  
Joe grins, “How are you today, my all?”  
“Apprehensive. Slightly annoyed.”   
“She means well.” Joe moves in between Nicky and Nile.   
Nicky drops his head against Joe’s chest. “I want to watch his skin blister, his brain boil in his skull as he burns like the witch he is.” He moves on to Italian, broken by sobs into Joe’s chest. Joe rubs his hand over Nicky’s shoulder, grimacing at one or two of Nicky vitriolic outbursts.  
Nile finishes the washing up and leaves the kitchen. She has a look for anything they have left behind that is not in the pile of objects piled to one side of the room. She finds all the dumb phones and checks they are charged and still have credit, plus how much a text is and how many that means they can send, the low hundreds should not be gone though in a day, Nicky and Joe are not teenage girls.  
“Nicky is listing the way he wants to see Booker die.” Nile tells Andy when she finds her still on the bed.  
Andy huff a laugh, “Be a while coming.”  
”I guess. It’s a good sign he is not holding everything in tight.”  
Andy nods and pats the bed next to her and Nile lays down with her head on Andy’s hip. Andy runs her fingers over Nile plaits, Nile sighs. “Did you know it was going to happen?”  
“Today no, “ Andy scritches Nile head, “Coming yes.”  
Nile lets out a huff of air. Andy hums a tune as she plays with Nile’s hair.

This is now Joe finds them a short time later. “Nicky wants to know if you want coffee?”  
“Can we load the van first?”  
“Urrh, fine, I Nicky wins that bet, he said you had a plan.”  
“So, I was thinking we take a load of stuff down, you stay with the van and text Nicky what the next thing to bring down.”  
“Or I could just tell you.”  
“I am trying to teach you and Nicky to use text. So, you can text each other from the vehicles. Or whenever you're apart and he feels a bit, you know Nicky.”  
“Oh.”  
“I want more coffee” Andy fills in the silence as Joe thinks.  
“Only if you help with packing.”  
“Who put you in charge?” There is no treat in Andy's voice.  
“You did.” Nile says with a grin from her place at Andy’s hip.  
Andy sighs, “Suppose I did, let’s see how you do.”  
Nile sits up to look at Andy for a few beats, “Okay.” Nile pauses again, before climbing off the bed. “Well, then.” Nile takes a deep breath and gives herself a little shake. “Come on you two let's get to work.” Nile leaves the bedroom, through the sitting room to collect two dumb phones, checking the numbers as she walks into the kitchen to find Nicky. “Nicky, you good enough to travel today? We can change plans if you are not, no problems.” Nile tries to keep the excitement out of her voice and her tone soft and non confrontational.  
Nicky turns away from the coffee maker the mugs in a row, the rest of the washing up, all put away, “We will go, I can manage.”  
“Sure, Nicky. I can manage is not a unqualified yes.”  
“Yes, Nile, let us go.”  
“Okay, this is your phone. This is the contacts, Joe is down as W-M. We click on that and then send him a text HELLO.” Nile comes to stand next to Nicky as she talks, the other phone buzzing as soon as she hits send. “See in Joe’s phone you are Muller and here is your HELLO. I press this to reply and start a conversation chain on both phones.” Nile types hello again, Nicky’s phone buzzes in his hand, “See, now you can just go to this screen and keep texting each other.”  
Nicky still looks a little unsure, a single finger resting just above the screen.   
“I can set the phone to Italian if you want, I set everything to English without thinking when I set it up.”  
“Please.” Nicky goes to hand the phone back to Nile then stops. “No, show me how to do it.”  
Nile talks Nicky into setting menus to change the language.   
“When I text Joe, will it be in Italian or will it become English on his phone?”  
“Italian, there is no translation. I mean there are smartphone apps and that but not on this.”  
Nicky’s “Okay.” Is a little more confident.  
Nile changes Joe’s phone to Italian, just because they both can read and write English does not mean they are comfortable with the language and this is about comfort. Nile guides Nicky out of the kitchen to join a waiting Joe and Andy, who is now stretched out on the sofa. Nile hands Joe his phone giving him the explanation as Nicky, who sends Joe a text he has been composing as Nile talks when she gets to the bit about how anything Nicky sends will end up in this chain. Joe smiles at whatever Nicky sends and quickly writes something back. His reply makes Nicky blush and Nile revises her belief that they have enough texts for the day.  
“Andy, do you want me to go through texting with you?”  
“No, it’s what Joe is for.”  
Nile shakes her head, she will get Andy at a later date. “Joe what are we taking down first,”  
Joe looks up from his phone, “The table and chairs, please.”   
“Okay, you and I take the table, Andy and Nicky can put the chairs in the lift. Once that is loaded you text Nicky with what you want sent down.”

The table, Joe and Nile fit neatly in the lift. They have to twist the table a little to get through the back door, then it straight into the van. The chairs take a couple trips back and forth for Nile and Joe, then boxes, crates and the other suitcase fill in spaces. The paintings, mirror and Tv come after, secured to one side of the van, by some straps that come with the van, behind the table.The lamps, statue fill in some more gaps, rugs acting as a buffer. Nile stacks the parcels in one corner as Joe puts the last few odds and sods in the other. It looks less now it’s been packed and sorted out properly. Nile knows they have thrown some items away but not that much, boxes and bags are neater than piles of loose items. Joe shuts and locks the van as she is thinking and they head back up.  
Nicky has coffee waiting for them in the sitting room when they come back up, a little smile on his face for Joe, who has one for him as they settle on the sofa together. The room looks bigger, even with the drying rack up and covered with towels, the stack of bags they are taking by the door and of rubbish bags next to them. Once the coffee is finished and the cups cleaned they are ready to go. 

Joe and Nicky leave the apartment last talking low and in Italian, the gap grows as they walk down the stairs. Nicky takes a detour to the front of the building to leave the keys in the mailbox, then to the bin. Nile uses the time to put bags in the car boot, taking a peak at the lunch cooler and what is in the golf bag, as it has gotten heavy. Lunch looks good and there is one of the rifles and the rolls of knives in there along with the swords and standard. Nicky joins them, the snack bags are put in the front of the vehicle and then they all come to a stand still. Andy lets out a huge sigh and leans against the van. Joe looks between the other three, clearly torn about something.   
“Look Joe it’s very simple, Andy can’t use the phone and drive, so you go with her and Nicky with me.” Nile explains again they have had this talk, she thought Nicky had signed off on the plan, what happened in the last five minutes. Joe looks at Nicky then Andy, the four of them in a rough square. Andy throws up her hands, marches to the van door and slams it behind her. Through the open window Andy shouts, “Joe get in the van, now.”  
Joe looks at Nicky again, the nod is small, miss-able if you where not watching. Nile turns and gets into the car, waiting. Joe turns, slowly, finally getting in the van with Andy and Nicky just stands there until Nile pushes the passenger door open. “Nicky, come sit in the front with me.” Nicky looks at the van, “Please, Nicky.” Nicky slowly climbs in. Andy gives him ten seconds from when the door shuts to get his seat belt on before she pulls out. Nile struggles to follow behind her, losing sight of the van as they pass in front of the apartment, finding the van at a set of traffic lights. They stay on the Avenue del Primat Reig until they get to the round-a-bout then right out of Valencia. Over the Carraixet river and into the little villages. Andy turns left at the third round-a-bout , then at almost random Andy turns off the main road on to side streets, Andy seems to pick streets and turns at random. Nile concentrates on keeping the van in sight, dropping back and letting other cars come between them as Nicky tries to explain tailing discreetly to her. Every so often his phone bleeps with a text from Joe.  
“Is he giving you hints so we can find them?”  
Nicky laughs, “No mostly cursing Andy’s driving, he thinks he could do better.”  
While Andy is clearly having fun driving around the villages she eventually puts them back on a main road. Then a mad mix of round-a-bouts, feeder roads and junctions, puts them on to the AP7. Andy speeds up and crosses lanes for a few miles, Nile sometimes following, sometimes letting Andy take off ahead until Andy gets bored and picks a lane. They settle onto the AP7, Andy and Joe in the van two cars ahead on the left, Nicky is smiling at whatever Joe has just texted him from the van. Nile is not going to regret explaining texting to the two of them even if they do become one of those couples. Nile's mind makes a couple of more leaps and she asks “You and Joe ever go to Pride?”  
Nicky looks up from his phone, putting it in the glove box, with a sigh. “Yes, a few different ones”  
“Good, bad or not for you.” Nile is unsure how to interrupt his response.  
“Both Joe and I like to dance, I like a good protest, the happy defiant air that is the good side of a riot, the positive energy, the belief the crowd can change the world and Joe likes people. You would think that it would be great fun. Some are, no most are, the fault is not the marches but with me. I find that in some places they are too commercial, the energy to fight system is not there and that is good because the change has happened. Others are hard because as the world has gotten easier to move around I find myself saying, have we not had this fight. Andy and Booker weariness washing about me. Then sometimes there is the fact that I am an outsider, I do not live in these places, go to these bars, I am not part of these clubs and groups. Of the world but not part of it.”  
“Not selling the whole live forever thing, Nicky.”  
“I am making it sound much worse than it is. It has only been the last few years and it’s the commercialism I have the greater issue with, to hear the Pride march advertised on mainstream radio as a family day out. It just seems to go against the…” Nicky casts his hand around to find a word.  
“The happy riot energy?”  
“Yes, for want of better words. If we come across a pride event, Joe and I will go if we can, we do enjoy them but we do not look for them anymore.” Nicky twists in his seat to face Nile as best he can with the seat belt. “Why did you ask?”  
“It was not on the list of things to take Nile to and I wonder if you had ever been or if it was something that passed you by. Joe and you have this thing about not caring about what others think and I didn’t know if that meant you didn’t feel the need to go big LBGT events like pride.”  
“We did Eurovision once. It was so much more accepting than any pride march, maybe because 2000, the start of a new century full of hope and new beginnings.”  
“You are going to have to explain that to me. Eurovision not 2000”  
“Ah yes America does not take part in the Eurovision song contest, it is cheesy fun and an excuse for a party and an argument and important and pointless, you have missed it for this year, but if we can, we will go to a street party next year. It is like the Euro cup but for songs.”  
“And it's an LGBT thing?”  
“Well, no not really. I do not know how to explain it to you because it is not the contest alone, most Europeans grow up with it, it’s been around every year since the 1950’s. It is a shared culture. Let me tell you a story.”  
Nile looks at Nicky relaxed in his seat wedged against the door so he can look at her, one leg half on the seat, fingers wrapped in the seatbelt that is stretched around him no longer offering any protection to him. She looks back to the road, the van still in sight, no issues ahead. Nicky moves to her side, a bottle of drink pops up by her hand. Nile takes it and has a drink as she gives it back, she says “Go on tell you story.”   
“We had been in Sarajevo for the first winter and the spring had come, I was mostly a medic and sniper, Joe did patrols and reconnaissance, Booker did commutations and we all helped with the ruined buildings. Joe and I shared a bed but we were often on duty at different times, the bed smelt of the other but he was missing. Then people kept wanting to swap shifts for this one night, Joe and I figured we could get time off together and just be together. Working a double or triple shift would be worth it to sleep in Yusuf's arms.”  
“So romantic.”  
“We used it for as long as we could, a how we met story, almost the truth, I would say I had wanted to help people so I had been a priest but the war started and I felt I had to go, that I was called. Joe would say he had worked for his father’s transport company but he felt it was his duty to go to defend the people under siege. We met during the Siege and fell in love.”  
“It is roughly what happened.”  
“The truest the tale has been in centuries.”  
“Who do you tell these stories to.”  
“That one mostly nursing school for me and Joe’s art students and colleagues.”  
“Right, strange to think of you two settled like that..”  
“We still did missions, here and there weekends and reading weeks, drove Booker mad trying to fit us in, which was half the reason to do it, Joe arranged some things too.”  
Nile laughs.  
“Back to the story, the night everyone wanted off came a round and the man I am on duty with, Luca, keeps popping into a house to get drinks or use the toilet. I tell him to go in the end, he is of no use to me as he is, that I will not report him, he is grateful and leaves. He come back late at night not quite early in the morning, with coffee and food, he does not smell like sex the way I though he would. He, like so many others, wanted to watch the Eurovision song contest, Bosnia’s first time competing.”  
Nile makes an incredulous noise.  
“I know but this was something they had grown up watching from Western Europe, Italian or Greek TV and now the country they were fighting for, they were dying for got to compete, it was a conformation of their country, there flag, their people, recognized as a nation in the years of the world. Recognition and at the same time something normal that happens every year, a few hours of escapism.” Nicky takes a sip of his drink, “Joe and I have danced at balls and parties and the enemy sits outside the walls, been to weddings held under enemy fire. Life still happens under siege and people need a release.” Nicky offers Nile her drinks bottle, waiting for her to finish before he continues. “Joe and I thought it was an odd thing for people to cling to but we had 24 hours together and it was good. Even better was the fact that Booker's very important communication job that got him shot at as he worked on the roof, was to ensure that they could give Bosnia’s results. He felt it was a pointless exercise and Andy fell from her chair laughing at him.” Nicky thuds his head against the door frame, Nile winces at the sound but no door open light comes on the dashboard. She hears Nicky let out a long breath and debates how long to let Nicky stew over what he should have done with Booker, before she was even in school.  
“When we were in Germany as I was at nursing school, Joe colleges invited us to a party for the Eurovision. There were drinking games and much shouting and homemade scoreboards, it was lots of fun. We told our meet up story, how taking other people shifts so they could watch Eurovision got us 24 hours together. At the end of the night, I drunkenly told Joe I wished to attend Eurovision and in 2000 he took me. I think he made it payment for a job to return a kidnapped heir.” Nicky shrugs, “There was much whispering between Joe and Booker.” Nicky falls silent again.  
“Did you have a good time in 2000.”  
“Yes, it was one long party, Joe talked to so many different people but we were all there for the same reason and everyone was part of the celebration and it was just wonderful.” Nicky's voice is soft, a smile playing on his lips. 

Nile watches Nicky relax back into the car seat, driving in silence for a couple of junctions, keeping Andy in the van insight. Nicky gets the phone back out of the glove box to check for texts, a smile playing over his lips at whatever he reads. Nile puts the radio on, running up and down the stations until she finds one Nicky likes and she can tolerate. The road stays between the mountains and the sea on the flat farm land for a while before slowly going up into the mountains. Every so often there is a break in the rocks to the right and Nile gets a glimpse of farmland and towns spread out beneath her, the sea a blue strip touching the sky. The road heads down toward the sea again, as gently as it went into the foothills. There is a small discussion of stopping at the rest stop, but everyone agrees to push on to Barcelona. The landscape gets a bit monotonous, Nile comments to Nicky “Even the bridges are nondescript. You almost would not know we had crossed a river if not for the railings and the view, the road didn’t change at all.”   
Nicky hums in agreement “There is a certain amount of uniformity but that is why we should take joy when an effort is made to put form into the function.”  
Nile groans, “Your Dad jokes are not funny, old man.”  
“You are just too young.”  
“Whatever.”  
“I could talk about concrete prefabrication and brutalism and civil engineering for half an hour if you want.”  
“Could you?” Nile turns down the radio, she is willing to listen to anything at this point and Nicky keeps censoring himself instead of going off on tangents like Joe. “Please.”  
Nile gets what must be the condensed version of a first year civil engineering course, that last a longer than half hour as she asks questions and Nicky hand waves the complicated Maths he starts trying to explain to her, before it becomes clear Maths is not Nile’s subject at all. The road heads back into the foothills and the road gets a little busier and the van pulls off at a junction, Nicky shakes his head and tells Nile to keep driving. Then after the next junction the van over takes them again and Nile guesses Andy was bored. The sea comes closer but the road does not get any lower until it’s just the railway tracks between them and the cliff edge.The land to the right falls away into woodland as Nicky runs out of steam. Nile turns the radio back up. By the time they have past Tarragona, on to the N340, Nile is feeling restless, “Is it wrong I want to ask if we are there yet, when I am driving?”  
“Another hour and a half I am afraid Nile, Sorry.”  
“We are stopping tomorrow.”  
“Yes that would be best.”  
“I am bored Nicky.”  
“Tell me about the festivals of Chicago.”  
“The what?”  
“Does Chicago not have City fete days or Saints days or founding days or victory days.”  
“We have the Bud Billiken Parade and a Pride Parade, a couple of St.Patrick’s day Parades, oh we dye the river green for it as well.”  
“I do not understand why you dyed a river green for Saint Patrick’s day?”  
“‘Cos it’s Saint Patrick's day and everything is green.” Nile does not sound certain in her answer. “Then you drink the green beer and it all makes sense.”  
“Green beer, which herb do you ferment with the hops to color it green?”  
“You would go with the cooking part.” Nile shakes her head, “You add green food coloring to normal beer.”  
“Ah. that would be simpler.”  
“There are parades and it’s a bit of a party, even if you are clearly not Irish.” Nile shrugs, indicating how she is not Irish with a wave of her hand. “The South side parade was the one local to me when I was young, the drinking is good now I am older.”  
“But there is no relic or church service.”  
“No it’s an Irish thing not a church thing.”  
“Okay.” Nicky is thinking, his fingers twitching one his seat belt, eyes half closed. Nile concentrates on not getting too close to the van, it’s a single carriageway road and there is nothing else going the same way as them.  
“Bud Billiken Parade?” Nicky's question makes Nile jump.  
“It’s on the South side, there is a picnic at the end, it’s a African-American thing and it marks the end of the summer. It’s just something I always went to and so did my Mum and Dad, it’s been going forever.”  
“I doubt it has been going forever, Nile.” Nicky says with a smile.  
“Like a hundred years, that’s forever in America.”  
“I will give you that.” Nicky flashes a smile. “What food do you have at this picnic?”  
Nile launches into a description of American picnic, bbq and potluck foods.

They pull into a multi story car park that has something to do with the port from the sighs Nile can see about cruise rates as goes Nicky paying for two all day passes. Joe hands Nile a pack of wet wipes so she can wipe down inside the car as he does the van, Andy empties the car. The bag of non perishable food says in the boot, the rucksack Joe took into the van joining it. One suitcase, one golf bag, the axe, a cool bag and three rucksacks spread between the team. Joe ends up with the golf bag on his back as it’s heavy. Nile takes the Suitcase, cool bag and two rucksacks, back and front, It leaves Nicky and Andy with free hands and Nile can ditch the case should they need to run. The still damp wet wipes are leaving a wet spot in Nile's pocket as they exit the car park, Nile drops a few in each bin she walks past until her pocket is empty and Nicky was lead them past the most boring round-about she has seen, there is not even grass, made all the more plain be the statute and modern art before it. They pass down a tree line street with a series of small parks and a playpark on the other side, before Nicky leads them up into a wooded park. Both Nile and Joe are happy to stop at the beaches when Nicky sits down. The view is not all that but they can finally eat.   
“I thought you were going to walk us to Park Guell.” Andy comments once she has eaten a few mouthfuls of pasta.  
“It’s the other side of Barcelona, but I do hope to take Nile there after the church.” Nicky's voice is softer than normal and has Joe shuffling closer to him. “Once we have spoken to Copley I will feel calmer.”  
“If nothing happens this week, after I've checked with Ulli, I think we can relax some with him.” Andy's head is not facing Nicky as she speaks but Nile can see her eyes and she is not blinking as she fixes on him. It’s such an Andy move.  
“Yes, I think we can trust him. I have not seen anything out of place.” Nicky shrugs, “I dislike not knowing. Nile believes in his redemption.”  
“I, for one am looking forward to less looking over our shoulders.” Joe makes a big show of looking over his shoulders, just to get Nicky to twitch his lips.  
“I think whatever Merrick was doing, he did not want anyone to find out, so everything went with him and his men at the lab.” Nile gives her reason for then to relax.  
Joe gives a long sigh, stabbing at his food “The point remains that Booker still sold us out and could still again.” Joe's tone is bitter.  
“He sat on the sofa with my love and watched football while he waited for them to come. He ate my food, he planned.” Nicky voice raises and fades out breath hitching as he tries to calm himself, waving Joe away when he sets his food aside.  
“He must have phoned to tell them He and Andy were at Copley's, I saw the vans going the other way.” Nile releases, horror in her voice, “They were not lucky, or watching Copley, it was him.”  
“The vans are why you came back to Copley’s?” Joe asks, “You sort to recuse Booker and Andy before they were taken.” Joe asks.  
Nile shakes her head, “I went to take the bullets out of the gun Andy gave me before I dispose of it and there were no bullets.” Nile stops speaking.  
Andy swears in a number of languages.  
“I should have killed him.” Joe mutters.  
“You would have just made a mess and he would have come back, it would teach him nothing, it never did.” Nicky soothes, color fading from his face.  
“Abandoning him going to work?” Nile asks.  
“His exile is more for us than him,” Nicky waves his hand between him and Joe. “Let him be alone and think about how he betrayed us all.”  
“I doubt he is doing much thinking.” Andy breathes out. “Not this year.”  
“This decade.” Joe mutters.  
“It is all shit.” Andy’s bites out.  
“Everything happens for a reason Boss.”  
“Yeah, Booker makes poor choices and his zero decision making skills.” Nile voices.  
Andy snorts, Nicky leans his head toward Joe, Joe moving so they rest their heads together for a second before pulling back and returning to his food.  
Nile has a deeper understanding of what’s upset Nicky today. This is not what they normally do, they are and have been hiding from Booker and anything he may have passed on about them. From the tales they have told her they once travel from place to place, settling somewhere for a time, to run a shop or studio or smithy and then move on. Lately Copley’s wall has shown clearly that with Booker it has been one campaign after another, all the major conflicts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and then some covered. Not even a few years totally free to do a university course. No wonder they all seemed burned out.  
Nile returns to her food, finding some of the taste has gone, not that Nicky’s cooking could be called bland. How do you hide from someone who has known you for 200 years and set up some, probably all of your modern identities. They eat the rest of the meal in a half-hearted silence, between compliments to Nicky’s cooking and remarks on Andy’s driving that go nowhere.

They walk back the way they came away from the dock between city streets, Nile can already feel a difference between here and Valencia. Barcelona is more, more people, more tourists, faster, taller, Nile could get lost here, not start to find herself like she did in Valencia. They turn back to the dock arriving at a statue of Columbus. Nicky and Joe both have opinions about Columbus but then so does Nile. It’s a lively conversion that takes them to the hotel.

They settle in the room, Nile booking in and the others follow up slowly after. Nicky banishes them all to one side of the room as he sets up the laptop, before getting Joe to move the small table and armchair so there is just white wall in front of the screen. Andy sits down as Nicky directs, Joe running a commentary of what to look for on Copley face and body, Andy’s glare shuts him up mid word before he can go onto anything else. The three of them sit on the bed facing Andy over the laptop, Nile inbetween the guys. Nile starts to say something then stops most due to the elbow to her side.  
Andy hand hovers over the button, “What Nile?”  
“You could be polite to him, Andy, Try saying hello, this time.”  
Andy finally presses the button, there is a ringing sound and then Copley.  
“Hello Andy.”  
“Hello Copley,” Andy shoots an icy glare glare at Nile, the guys move away from her so it does not hit them. Andy looks back to Copley. “Update?”  
“Dr Kozak is going to jail, you were not her first human test subjects and some of the previous ones died. No-one is looking for you after the lab, the CIA, Mossad and FSB are clear. The DGSE is going to take some time, how did they now work out you were the same four people for five different groups?”  
“Ineptitude.” Nicky says, Andy snorts.  
“Do I get to know the joke?” Copley asks.  
“No” Andy tells him, Nile hums disapproval. Andy huffs “Nicky said ineptitude.” It should he be possible for her to sound like a sulky teen but she does.  
Copley smiles, “That’s what I was thinking but it's nice to have that confirmed. MI 5 is done MI6 I want to do another run through. New Zealand and South Africa are done. China will takes some time but I have used their hacked files to find other files about you, as well as some other files”  
“Good work.”  
“I’ve deleted a lot of photos. I am trying out a hack into facebook not just to find images of you but to blurry or change your images when it finds you.”  
Andy eyes flick to Nile, she gives a thumbs up. “Good work.”  
“Booker?”  
“Still in Paris, still drunk, he got in a bar fight.”   
Andy stares at him. “I took care of it”  
“Thank you.”  
“I have been setting up the base of a new group profile for you, vague background and muttering, should you want to get back in the business.”  
Andy nods.  
Copley coughs and clears his throat, “To that end I've been looking at the sites Nicky and Joe gave me. To see if I could use anything from there, what I found was someone, more than one someone based on the different writing patterns, claiming ‘The Mediterraneans’ would be interested in a type post I keep seeing. I think ‘The Mediterraneans’ are Joe and Nicky. If they are not it’s still a good base for the new group, they guys have a good reputation, they kind I think you lot want for doing good in the world. The comments on the sites say ‘The Mediterraneans’ do good, kidnap rescue mainly and some finding of the disappeared, good success rate, neat work. The posts that they are targeted in are a number of women from Russia who wish to get their grandchildren back from ISSI, taken there by their parents. I am running photos of the children passed refugee photos from the Red Cross and the like, I think I have found a couple of them in a ISSI camp in Iraq run by a local militia. I know it’s not the sort of mission you normally go on Andy, but for training or” Copley trails off nervous under Andy’s gaze.  
“Boss, it’s something we would do on our down time.” Joe says. “The Mediterraneans' is the name My all and I have gotten ourselves.”  
“Returning these children to their family is the right thing to do.” Nicky adds.  
Andy sighs  
“Okay I will look for something else. I would still like to use the ”‘The Mediterraneans’ as a base” Copley says, “The Red Crescent might be able to help, repatriation of these children is hard but possible.”  
Andy remembers he can’t hear Joe and Nicky. “No, Joe and Nicky were talking, they want to do it. Use ‘The Mediterraneans’ stuff as a base. Can you send the information to a file thing.”  
“Secure drop box” Copley and Nile say at the same time.  
“Yes that.”  
Copley gives an address, which Joe writes down, Andy has him say it three times. then they say their goodbyes.  
Nile thinks she will have to see the files, do some checking, get Joe to reach out to people in the Red Crescent, but it looks like they have their first mission.  
Nicky disconnects the laptop, packing everything away into a rucksack, the other grabbing bags, Nile is stopped by Andy fishing something out of the suitcase. “Leave that one,” Andy points to the rucksack Nicky is closing. “I’ll bring it with me when I join you tonight.”  
“Boss?” Joe questions.  
“I was not joking yesterday, I am making use of this hotel room and getting laid this afternoon. Now unless one of you is offering, piss off and go look at art.”  
Joe's face does a couple of things before he open mouth like he tasted something bad.   
“Nicky take your husband away before I take insult.”  
“Come on my love, let us relax in our own ways.” Nicky pushes Joe to the door with a tight smile.  
“You know which hotel we are at? Have your phone? Money? Condoms?” Nile asks as she drags the suitcase to the other side of the room.  
“Yes, yes and it’s charged, of course but I will not need any, yes it makes for easier clean up. Now piss off and look at your stupid church.”  
“Have fun Andy, do all the things I will not do.” Nile waves as she leaves the room.  
Andy snorts as the door closes.

“How is your Kurdish?” Nicky asks Joe as they wait for the metro.  
“Better than yours, we will stick to Arabic and let you do all the talking, your Damascus accent will be of use for once.” Nicky rocks against Joe's side lip twitching at what must be an old joke between them.  
“Doctors without borders or World health are better for access or can we just drive up to a camp?” Nile questions.  
“Médecins sans frontières.” Nicky snaps, “Please call it that, only Americans translate into English. Even the British call it Médecins Sans Frontières.”  
“Okay, sorry.” Nile is saved from any more embarrassment by the metro arriving and then getting on. As the metro moves off, Nile looks at Nicky, “I didn't mean to cause offence.”  
“You did not. I am just.” Nicky breaths out, “ I am unsettled, this is a change of plans.”  
“No it’s not. We still move as planned. You said you needed time, Joe asked for four weeks and we have only had two. Andy is not going to trust anything from Copley, not completely, not for an age. Which one of them might not live to see the end of.” Joe snorts and Nicky relaxes slightly. “We can look at the information in Milan, with a new smartphone or a tablet.” there is a question in Nicky’s eyebrows, Nile does not whether it’s a translation issue or a technology issue, then pushes on. “I’ll show you a tablet when we get one. We will use it just for this mission. The Laptop can be education and entertainment, the smartphone for booking stuff.”  
“I do like the access to music.” Nicky relaxes fully in his seat, “This has shown that Copley needs distracting.”  
”Yup, he has far too much time on his hands.” Nile and Nicky share a smile.  
”We can wait until we have settled somewhere, my all, give us some more time.  
“No, while this is not time sensitive, I do not want to leave children in an unsafe place, when they could be with loving grandparents. The guilt would eat at me.”  
“But we should not be foolish, my all.”Joe’s argument is well meant but with an edge to it.  
“Nor should we delay unreasonably.” Nicky counters.  
“That is why Milan.” Nile jumps in before things escalate between the men. “Not too quickly we have nothing set up but enough time to look properly and have Andy check with Ulli and us with whoever.”  
“See my all, how she thinks of this, happily line between the two of us.”  
“Do not start Yusuf, Andy is bad enough.”  
Joe gives Nicky a wink and knocks his shoulder against Nicky’s.  
“How does MSF fit into this.”  
“Just working out the best best way to go in the front door.”  
“Let us see what information we have first.” Joe tell’s her, “Different places and groups are open to different people.”  
“Okay.” Nile nods more than speaks.  
“This is our stop.” Nicky stands up as the metro slows.  
The yellow metro line takes them from Bogatell to Passeig de Gracia. Nicky directs them up to the street of the same name. It’s a wide boulevard, with some Art Nouveau buildings and then Casa Batllo. It’s everything Nile has seen in books, art and sculpture in one. Nicky stands with the bags, watching for pick pockets as Nile and Joe look from different angles at the facade pointing things out to each other. Joe remembers Nicky before they head inside, doubling back to where Nicky has been waiting.   
“You can go in, I can wait, My love.”   
“You don’t want to see?” Nile asks as she joins them.  
“It’s all stucco, not structural uses at all.” Nicky says with a clear tease at Joe. Joe makes out that Nicky’s words have wounded him. “But pretty to look at I agree.” Joe gets up from kneeling on the floor.  
“Onward?” Nile asks as she grabs the suitcase handle. Nicky nods, sticking his arm out with a flourish.  
The Casa Mila is another five minutes farther along the road on the other side at the turning they need to take to the hotel. It’s not as colorful or busy as Casa Batilo even if it is bigger. Nile and Joe take time to look at the metal work of the balconies. Nicky points out the arches and columns that allow the facade to be free standing and what that means for the internal building. Joe lips twitch a couple of times but Nile shoves him everytime he he goes to speak, she is letting Nicky share his interest with her, smiling as the way his face does light up.  
They book into the hotel and go up to the room, it’s a tight fit with the two double beds taking up much of the space. There is a small gap between one wall and one bed that Joe removes by pushing the bed against the wall. Nile goes to check out the bathroom as Joe shows off his muscles for Nicky. The shower is a decent size, hopefully the water pressure is high and hot water plentiful. Nile stalls as long as she can in the bathroom to give the guys some space. In the time she has been gone, Joe has remade the bed with the guy's blanket and a pillow at the feet end. Nicky is repacking a rucksack with snacks and drinks. Nile walks across the room to step on to the small balcony that overlooks the street. She can hear the wardrobe opening and bags clunking inside, over the street sounds, Nicky and Joe’s voices an indistinct hum behind her.   
“See anything?” Joe is leaning on the door frame, the balcony is too small for him to join her.  
“Just a normal street, no one looking up, no one pausing below or running. Some guys talking while sat on scooters, but that's a normal thing right?”  
Joe grins as he sticks his head over the balcony and looks up and down the street. “Yup, totally normal.”  
“I hate you, you know that.” Nile laughs at him  
Joe laughs back, taking her arm to pull her into the room. “Do you need a nap or can we go?”  
“Unlike you I am full of youthful energy.”  
“My all, did you hear what she just said?” Joe cries out in mock indignation.  
“Yes, that she is ready to leave, shut the doors and we can go.”  
Joe harrumphs as lock the balcony doors, pushing Nile toward the door out of the room, Nicky stops him as he passes to give Joe a kiss. “Thank you my love.”  
Joe preens under Nicky’s gaze and words.   
Nile opening the door breaks the spell and they leave the room. On the ground floor of the hotel in the bakery they grab a pastry each before heading out onto the street. They move back down the street past Casa Mila to the Diagonal metro stop. This time they get the blue line to Sagrada Famila stop.  
“Nile, how do you remove make up if not with water?” Nicky asks once they are sat down in the carriage.  
Nile lips twitch at his question, “Make-up remover. We will pick some up from a pharmacy later.” Nile thinks about what else he might need, it’s been so long since she wore make-up all the time. “And cotton pads.” Nile inspects Nicky’s face, there is no smudging or streaks, so it can wait until tonight, unless it is a church thing. “It’s not a church thing? You don’t need to remove it now?”  
Nicky raises one side of his mouth in a half smile, “No, I am just used to retouching throughout the day. This one said it was twenty-four hours and it looks like that claim might be true.”  
“Yes, there have been some advance in makeup since you last used it.” Nile smiles at him.  
“There have been advances in everything, my all.” Joe is smirking.  
“Bite me, my love.” Nicky's voice is sickly sweet.  
“I have all over your body My all and I will again.” Joe replies in kind.  
“Stop it not, both of you.” Nile scolds, she has no idea what game they are playing but they can stop it.  
Joe and Nicky laugh, their feet pressed together as they have been, whatever was going on between then was good natured.  
They arrive at the metro stop, heading above ground with a small group of sightseers, when they get clear of the metro and see the Sagrada Familia for the first time, Nicky has to gently usher Joe and Nile out of the way of the rest of the people coming up the stairs. The three of them are not the only ones coming to a standstill, although they are the only ones not taking photos.  
“It has come a long way since we last saw it.” Joe turns to Nicky, breaking the spell he and Nile have been under.  
“We were here many years ago, my love.” Nicky gives Joe‘s hand a squeeze before leading them away from the entrance toward the back of the building. Even at this distance as they walk around the building, view cut off by the trees and bushes that line the fence or the odd billboard and storage for things needed on site, the detail and workmanship is incredible.The carve shapes of the towers and the walls gain forms and impressions of objects, landscape from nature giving another layer to the design. Nile is sure that when they look closer there will be even more detail, each section becoming a set of carvings and statues, looking at it from a distance she gets some idea how it all fits together. As they arrive back at the front, near the entrance not far from where they started their loop around, Nile realizes Nicky is looking at the builders more than the building. They look like normal workmen in hard hats and high-viz to Nile.  
“Nicky, something going on.?”  
Nicky acknowledges he heard her, with a hum but does not answer the question.  
“My all, have you seen something?” “Joe’s concerned tone, from the other side of Nile, makes Nicky look across at him.  
“Oh, it has not changed really,” Nicky shrugs, not getting how worried the other two have gotten by his actions, “The method of building, it’s still done by hand, each piece fitting only in one place, the cranes are better, the scaffold is the same. If you removed the fluorescent yellow it could almost be my childhood.”  
Joe lets out a puff of air, “My all you had us worried.”  
Nicky’s cheeks blush red with embarrassment, Joe reaches behind Nile to cup he back of Nicky’s neat, Nicky leans back into it, a quick wordless apology and acceptance. Once Joe removes his hand and with the blush fading from his cheeks , Nicky looks at Nile.  
“Sorry Nicky, “ Nile gets out before he can speak. “Joe and I were too busy looking at the art. We forgot this might be something you wanted to see for your own reasons.”  
Joe runs his hand down Nicky's arm before trying to take Nicky’s hand. Nicky pulls away, moving to put Nile between them once again.  
“Oh, I see how it is.” Joe's words are not quite teasing.  
“Yusuf, do not start this argument with me.”  
“But.” Joe wines trying to lighting the mood  
“Y-Joe, we are in possible hostile territory and you wish to handicap us both?”  
“Oh.” Nile Blurts out causing both men to look at her. “Not where I thought this was going.” Then Nile’s thoughts catch up with her, showing the men's actions in a different light, “I was a US marine until last month, you do know that.” The day spent with them on either side of her, or in front and behind, the guiding touches, one engaging her the other off to one side. She does not need bodyguards.  
“Instinct Nile.” Joe tells her, the fact he looks sheepish at being caught, settles some of Nile annoyance at their behavior.  
“She worked it out faster than Booker.” Nicky says with pride, and all Nile can hear is my child is better than yours and it feels like a punch to the stomach. When Nile can breathe again Nicky is walking away, “How long did Booker take?”   
“Two hundred and eight years.” Nicky calls over his shoulder.  
”Two hundred and eight ” Nile whispers to herself doing the maths. “Wait he never got it?”  
“It’s not like it was all the time, just.” Joe shrugs, gesturing to encompass himself, Nicky and the world. “It was just when we were sightseeing or Nicky had a feeling or we were reminded of something or sometime, then we did it.”  
“So when you were all together, outside and not on a mission then.” Nile shoots back at him.  
“Not always.” But Joe does not sound confident in his answer. “You join us at a time when things are not, we are not at our best. Not just due to Booker's actions or what has happened to Andy. We had issues as a group before.”  
Nile stands with Joe as they watch Nicky join the queue for tickets. “Do you miss him?”  
“I will, one day, when the gap his absence has put in my life stops making me angry and become melancholy.”  
“But it’s too soon.”  
“Yes.” Joe’s single word is sure and final.  
Nicky signals them over to the entrance with now he has the tickets.

“It looks like two build smushed together.” Nile says to the guys as they stand away from the door to enter the church, by the fence taking a break. Joe waves his hand for her to continue as he chugs his water bottle. Nicky looks up from the rucksack where he is hunting out pieces of fruit for everyone. “Well there are two colors, the dark and the light stone and the dark bit has the sandcastle like shaping to the stone with heavily detailed realistic carvings. The lighter stone is cleaner and the carving more brutalist. They are both great and I like it all. It's just the juxtaposition is a bit jarring.”  
Nicky lip twitches up as he hands her an apple, before peeling his orange, giving Joe a pointed look as Nile waits for one of them to reply. Joe takes a big bite of this apricot, Nicky rolls his eyes.  
“The dark stone is just older, over a hundred years in some places it will all end up the same color. I believe all the stone comes from the same quarry. The Civil war and pollution have had an effect too. I think there have been some fires, there normally is when these things are built. The Nativity facade was built before the Civil war the Passion facade after. The building style is the same throughout and the shape is quite classical.” Nicky pops a segment of orange in his mouth, picking at another piece..   
“If they were not both designed by Gaudi you could say the facades say something about Spain at the time they were made. This is all his vision.” Joe finally adds when it is clear Nicky is not going to speak again.  
“That was a very polite, Nile, you are wrong and these are the reasons.” Nile’s words have no sting as she grins at them.  
Joe just grins back at her.

The inside of the cathedral is free of the masses of art in a change from what Nile has become used to in Catholic churches . The art is the building itself, the shape and form of the stone's structure, cut and dressed to bring out color and pattern in the stone. The use of repeating patterns in the stonework and of shadows cast and finally the light, sunlight illuminating, shapes and area and the ever changing, strokes of colored light from the stain glass, washing walls and columns with shifting colors.  
“It’s like being inside an immersive art installation.” Nile tells the guys as they come to a stop, watching the walls in awe.  
“The design of the windows and vaulting remind me of several mosques. “Joe's voice barely a whisper.  
“Spanish architecture was heavily influenced by the time under the caliphate.” Nicky comments off hand, with the same awe and wonder of Joe and Nile. Nile watches a smile play on Joe’s lips as he looks at Nicky.  
“It still feels Holy, reverential.” Nile continues,  
“Yes.” Nicky breathes out in a rush.  
Joe says something to him in Arabic, there is a pattern to the words but it is not Joe’s poem voice. Nicky replies in Latin.  
The move to do another loop of the interior just to look at the building itself, then another loop to look at the little bit of art that is inside.  
The three of them finally leave and retreat back to the small park to recover from the experience.  
The shadows are long and Nile wonders how late it has gotten.   
“it’s a little before seven,” Joe looks at his watch.  
“Do we have time to go to the Guell park?” Nile wonders, not really sure if she is up for it. “Not to spend any time and it will be dark soon.” Nicky points out, “It closes at eight and we still have to take the metro to get there.”  
“You don’t sound disappointed.” Nile feels relieved too.  
“I think it might be too much. For one day.” Nike smiles briefly, directing them to a bench where he hands out more fruit to eat.   
“We could walk down the La Rambla.” Joe suggest, Nicky groans.  
“Please Nicky, it’s on the list of things you do in Barcelona.” Nile but agrees.

The get the metro to the Universiat stop and walk to the Place de Catalunya, they do a quick loop around the square, so Nile can look at the art, although she is not really into it, so Nicky steers them down thw La Rambla and Nile lets the crowds wash over her, trusting Nicky and Joe to watch out for her. They come to a section where artists have set up to do portraits and pictures that Joe takes an interest in. Nicky pulls him away before he can join in or worse offer advice. They watch the street jugglers and give euros to the statue people. The man that is dressed like Yoda and floating in the air holds Nile interest for a time, Joe and Nicky will not tell her how the trick is done. One of the bars has the music going early, something flamenco like that has Joe taking Nicky and then Nile for a twirl. Finally they end up back at the Columbus Statue and head to the Metro stop and go back to the hotel. 

When they arrive at the hotel, Andy is sat at a table in the bakery with one empty plate in front of her, another piece of cake, half eaten in front of her, with a full glass of wine in hand. Joe moves in for a hug, like they have not seen her for days not hours.  
“Andy what is this on your neck?” Joe pulls back from the hug, pulling at Andy’s top as Nicky and Nile approach, there are a number of red marks running down her neck and across her shoulder. “Nicky.” Joe gasps, fearful at the sight.  
“It’s nothing, Joe.” Andy’s hand comes up to cover Joe’s.  
“It does not look like nothing, it looks like…”Joe looks at Nicky, whose eyes are wide at the sight. Nile can see Joe’s hand shaking, Andy’s hand comforting him instead of pulling his hand away, leaving her exposed.  
“Joe, it’s nothing you or Nicky need to worry about.” Nile sits down the other side of the scene, a smile forming on her lips.”Andy on the other hand,” Nile meets Andy’s eyes as she turns away from Joe at the mention of her name, “how are you going to explain the mark of your last conquest to your next?”  
“He did this to you.” Joe is suddenly angry.  
“Of course she did.” Andy is smug, “I know how to please.”  
“Yusuf,” Nicky is turning red, “They are passion marks.” Nicky switches to Italian, Nile watches the faint colour rise across Joe’s face.  
“Oh.” Joe’s voice is small and lost, “I did not think, that is they do not normally show. I guess they do now. Sorry.”  
Andy gently pulls Joe’s hand from her top pulling it to her chest, her other hand going to his neck, pulling their heads together. “This, this is what breaks you?”  
“No Boss.” Joe is clearly lying, none of them calling him on it. Andy shoves Joe gently at Nicky, nods shared between them. Andy sits back down, as Nicky whispers at Joe.  
“Does she share the same marks?” Nile keeps her tone light, distracting as Nicky sits himself and Joe down.  
“Well not in the same place, I put them on her...”  
“La-la-la, i’m not listening.” Nile puts her fingers in her ears, Andy starts to mouth the word in her face, so Nile closes her eyes, lowering her head to the table. Nile stays there until she feels a pat on her head, sitting back up she sees Andy pull her hand back.  
“I did not expect you back for another hour.”  
Nile looks over to Joe and Nicky, still whispering together, Nile does not answer Andy’s question, that it has been too much for them. “It must be strange for them, to see evidence of your activities, after all this time. They never have before and the marks they put on each other don’t stick around.”  
“It’s strange for me to have marks on me after all this time. They were things of pride.” Andy sighs, “We do not spend enough time with morals of late, socially I mean. We have forgotten how they are.”  
“It’ll stop being a shock to them, in due course. Which might be worse.” Nile face twist she has bitten something sour.  
Andy snorts, “I don’t like that idea.” Andy takes a bit of her cake, “I miss being a goddess when everyone did as I said.”  
“You don’t think they worship you?”  
“”They do, in their own way,” Andy sounds a little sad. “Booker not so much. They,” Andy points at the guys with her chin, “think they can reason with me, like with their god.”  
“I know what you mean, their faith is different from mine, God is still very much of their world and not watching from above. It does seem more personal.”  
“They were all like that at the start.” Andy takes a sip of wine. “The world changes, people’s needs change, beliefs change, gods change.”  
“Do we change?”  
“Nicky thinks so. How would we know.” Andy finishes her wine. “Today is not a day to talk of gods old and new.” Andy fixes Nile with a glare, “Why are you back early?”  
“Once we had finished at Sagrada Familia it was too late to go to the park.” Nile pauses, looking quickly at Joe and Nicky. “I was a bit overwhelmed and Nicky didn’t fancy it, so we walked down La Rambla.” Nile pauses to think again. “I liked the performers and the bars looked like it could be a fun night out. But, it did feel like it was a show for the crowds, not, you know, the real Barcelona.”  
“Joe’s idea.” it’s not a question.  
“Yes.”  
Andy shakes her head, pushing the remains of her cake towards Nile. “You two done whispering sweet nothings at each other?”  
“Never.” Joe quickly responds, like there could have been a real question of his love.  
“Nile want’s to the real Barcelona and I want steak for dinner.”  
Nicky stands, “We will see what we can do in the local area.” he reaches across the table to tidy the plates.The others following him up away from the table to the room to drop off the bags and freshen up. Then they head out into the night to find food.

Dinner is eaten in one of the many little restaurants tucked about on the side streets not far from the hotel, the food is Brazilian. Nile has never had anything quite like it, Joe and Nicky seem familiar with it all sharing dishes and pieces with her. Andy has steak, keeping her meal for herself while taking pieces from everyone else as she fancies. The conversation moves from La Rambla, which Andy walked up, they must have missed her as they walked down, to Medieval market days and then to carnival and fiestas. Nile's own wild Cinco de Mayo story, mostly Dizzy’s fault, is the closest to one of these tales she has.   
They leave the restaurant without dessert looking for an ice cream shop that must be nearby, because Andy has not had anywhere near enough sweet things today.  
Having gotten ice cream, a scoop of milk and cinnamon and a scoop of hazelnut for Nile, a scoop each of nogart and Oreo cookie for Andy, Joe trying to get a taste of Nicky’s lemon and stracciatella ignoring his own strawberry and after eight, they walk up to Avenue Diagonal and then loop back to the hotel.

They settle at a table in the hotel lounge to play rummy again. The first few hands pass with everyone getting most of the cards down so the scores are low.  
Nile gets caught with a full hand and as Nicky goes through her cards to add them up he points out she had far more than forty-two in her runs so she could have put down.  
“I was just thinking and got distracted.”  
“Thinking about what, little goddess.” Joe is concerned but focuses on her, shifting slightly closer. Nile watches Andy and Nicky scan the room, Nicky shifting so he can defend her quicker and it fills Nile with such happiness.   
“You guys are so sweet.” emotion clogs Nile’s voice. “You don’t really know me, we only met three weeks ago but here you are moving to protect me. “  
“Are you going to cry?” Andy huffs as she pulls all the cards in front of her, Nicky tuts at her. “You two count cards far too often for me to leave any of these cards un-shuffled.”  
“No Andy. “ Nile pulls herself back together. “I was thinking how scared and in shock I was and how I didn’t know how I was going or deal with everything that was happening to me. Two weeks ago I was a mess, not knowing my place, what I was going to do, how things would be, full of grief for everything I had left behind and no idea what the future held. The days are a bit blurry and I think I am missing some time and how I got from place to place.” Joe reaches for her hands, clasping them in his, Nile feels Nicky’s leg press against hers, silent support and acceptance from them. Andy has stopped shuffling the card, thumb stroking the corner of the deck, watching Nile through her eyelashes without looking up, clearly listening. “Things get clearer as we traveled, I am still me and I get to decide how this changes me. I want to do all the new things and there are so many things, stuff I never even knew I could do. I want to try all the flavors, eat all the foods, see everything old and new, learn to do things and make things and I get to do it, to try it all. I don’t have to decide A or B but which now and which later.” Andy snorts and Joe is beaming at her. “Most of all I still have a purpose, I still get to help people on a scale I do not want to think about, someday I will have my own section on Copley’s wall and on a small daily scale and in between. It’s all that I wanted for my life and I get to do it forever.”   
Andy snorts again, “Maybe not forever.”  
“I’m American one hundred years is forever.”  
Nicky laughs, a snort burst that surprises Joe.Great thinks Nile, Nicky and I have in-jokes now, as Andy hums flicking her finger between Joe and Nicky. Nicky sighs and Joe shrugs.   
“She is wearing you down.” Nile tells the guys.  
“You keep proving me right.” Andy counters.  
“Cards.” Joe takes the deck away from Andy to deal, even though it’s not his turn.  
Nicky covers a yawn, “500 and then bed.”  
Nile wins the next round, Andy’s total creeping up to hers over then next few rounds until they are both in the high four hundreds. The next round puts both of them over five hundred and Andy two points more than Nile.

They take turns in the bathroom, Andy showing while Nile brushes her teeth, Joe and Nicky carrying on a conversation with both of them about tomorrow. It feels so normal to Nile and Nile finds she is happy with now things are. Joe is in bed then Nile gets in, Nicky fits in between the two of them, the guys shuffle about until everyone is comfortable, Andy already propped up to half sitting in the other bed, snoring softly,sleep comes quickly to Nile, happy, warm and safe with her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> I could do a whole meta with all the references and true facts that are in this. I don't know if anyone has picked up on anything. You can properly plot their trip on google maps with ease, at time during this year of lock down, it's the close I have got to going on holiday.
> 
> I love this fandom and the kind, lovely people I have met in the comments sections.
> 
> Hope 2021 is good for you all.

**Author's Note:**

> Would you belive this stated of as this note.  
> plot:  
> teach nile to ride a bike  
> nicky/joe reading aloud  
> nile never ride a bike or horse  
> goto valenca  
> nile upset about nicky/joe taking her to the zoo


End file.
